The Rebellion We Create: How Overprotecting Kids Backfires" or "Finding the Balance: Protecting Without Pushing Them Away.

The Peer Pressure Battle: “Everyone Else Has One!”

If you’ve ever heard a kid say,"But everyone else has one!"you know just how strong peer pressure can be — and how hard it is to hold your ground sometimes.

Lately, we’ve been dealing with that exact situation.Whether it's about cell phones, energy drinks, brand-name clothes, video games — you name it — there’s always something that "everybody else" seems to have. And when you’re a kid, not having it can feel like the end of the world.

I get it.Nobody wants to feel left out. I remember being a teenager and thinking that if I didn’t have the “cool” thing, I'd be invisible.But now that I’m on the parenting side of it, all I see are the risks, the costs, and the long-term lessons we might be teaching if we cave to every "but everyone else..." moment.

And honestly — it’s deeper than just cell phones and clothes.I know it was so engrained in my head as a kid to “save yourself for marriage," blah blah blah. I don’t know if it was the daddy issues I had, or just raging hormones, but I was so ready to lose the "virgin" label.Looking back, I almost feel like it was the rebellion in me that caused it. I craved freedom because I had been so sheltered.

When I finally got that freedom, I was an absolute wild child.I mean, let’s be real — I wasn’t even allowed to watch Dirty Dancing because I was “too young to watch them make out.” (Cringe.)

Now as a parent myself, I’m not sheltering my kids that bad — but it does make me wonder:How do you parent and protect your kids without being so overbearing that you accidentally push them straight into rebellion?Where’s the line between protecting their innocence and letting them experience life in a safe, healthy way?

At what age is it appropriate to loosen the reins?And how do you figure out where the line is between sheltering and smothering?

I’m still learning as I go — and I would love to hear what’s worked (or not worked) for you.

Let’s be real, parenting isn’t easy — but talking about it helps. 💬