I am an assistant principal in a middle school (grades 6-8). When I have to search a student's cell phone, I often get sick to my stomach at what I find. It gets worse and worse every year.
This is how it is with big kids: the older our children get, the more the things they need comforting from are not things we can do much about. When they don't have friends, we can't set up playdates for them. When they don't understand their homework, we usually don't understand it enough to help them, either. When someone breaks their heart, we can't (and shouldn't) go try to talk them into loving our baby again.
