A Free America Is Never About Comfort

As the parent of two daughters who are entering adulthood, my family has operated on a time-tested strategy that’s completely counter-intuitive to everything in my nature, yet is something I learned in high school biology many years ago.

A butterfly only survives by struggling to exit its cocoon.

If any aid is granted — for example if you break a cocoon to help the butterfly escape — its wings will not have developed the strength to fly.

Ultimately the butterfly will die.

The translation to parenting is this: as much...