THINGS I WISH MY KIDS WOULD ASK ME

Editor's note: Barry Courter has a 24-year-old son who is a college graduate and a 19-year-old daughter who is a sophomore in college.

Q: Dad, what's the hardest part about parenting?

A: I would say it has to be allowing your child to succeed or fail on his or her own. It's hard to watch, and it's even harder when you know it might actually hurt. But you can't do everything for your kid all of the time, and everyone I've ever known or heard of who did something really great has said they learned more from failing than anything else.

- Barry Courter