Rather than leveling the playing field, believe in your kids

Believing in our kids for who they are allows us to more easily feel confident that they will thrive no matter what comes their way.

This has been the hardest article for me to write by far. It's about themes that stem from Felicity Huffman's letter to the judge hearing her case for paying to have her daughter's SAT scores altered -- the college admissions scandal revisited. It would be easy for me to write about how bad Huffman is, how egregious her crime was, and about her abuse of and inability to see her wealth and privilege. Those are all true -- and they have all been written about. Here I dive deeper into the larger social context because I want to examine the underlying social and cultural forces at play and how they might invoke deeper thoughts about our own personal lives in raising children.

What drives one to commit such a crime? This is what I investigate in this week's Jackson Hole News & Guide article. I barely scratch the surface in this short column, and many of my thoughts had to be cut due to space. I wonder what thoughts these ideas invoke in you?