Parents who try to be their children’s best friends
Your child needs to learn from his own life experiences (and mistakes). What you've gone through has taught you a thing or two—or 10,000! But it's unreasonable to expect that your child should operate from the same base of experience-earned wisdom just because he's listened to stories from your own childhood. Most kids need to learn from their own mistakes for the biggest life lessons to sink in. In those times, he'll need to know that you're there to provide comfort, reassurance, and stability in a way that's different from the support his same-age friends can offer. Raising your child is a huge privilege and a responsibility. Instead of being your child's best friend, aim for developing a relational parenting approach, where you make decisions based on what you know about your child. This allows you to respect who she is and consider her feelings without compromising your parenting authority.