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We work so hard to make sure that our children have every chance to succeed in this world. We give them everything we never had (and sometimes a little too much), and we love them to a point that would seem a little strange if it weren’t for having the deepest possible bond that two people can share. And even when our children have grown up and moved on to fulfill their own destinies in the world, we still want to reach out to other people. So we begin to volunteer in our communities, helping other people with children to do as good a job as (if not a better one than) we did with our own kids.
Naturally, the conversations we have with any child are intended to help them do well in this world. We encourage them to respect themselves and others, and to only give their bodies and their sexuality to someone they truly love, when they are ready (preferably married, but sometimes things do happen). We encourage our children to find healthy ways of having fun, to get plenty of exercise and fresh air, and we keep them away from the poker tables and roulette wheels of the world until they are old enough to make responsible decisions about them. If we do well, the children we encourage grow up to be responsible, happy citizens of this world.
But sometimes we fail. When a child you mentor makes a mistake, no matter how grievous, it is your responsibility to help them within reason. You should certainly never try to step in and fix a problem the child has created for themself – that would give them the false expectation that there are no consequences to the mistakes they make. But on the other hand, no matter how grave a mistake they have made, you should never abandon a child you mentor.
