From chapter 4 of Underground History of American Education:

Bringing children up properly is a helix sport forcing you to realize that no boy or girl on earth is just like another. If you do understand this you also understand there can exist no reliable map to tell you all you need to do. Process kids like sardines and don’t be surprised when they come out oily and dead. In the words of the Albany Free School, if you aren’t making it up as you go along, you aren’t doing it right.

How true. As the parent of eight very different children, I often wish there were a plan, a set of rules, some kind of guidebook. It’s scary to realize that I’m making it up as I go along. However, I really believe that’s what we have to do. Yes, the Bible has principles and examples to help us figure it out. But when Karate Kid tells me he wants to be a spy when he grows up, and spies have to trick people to do their job, I’m the one who has to decide to (a)laugh, (b)affirm his ambition, or (c) encourage him to become a doctor instead. When Computer Guru Son wants to spend all day every day playing video games, the Bible doesn’t tell me specifically what to do. I have to pray and then decide, making it up as I go along with the guidance of the Holy Spirit. However, I did realize something this morning: I am not responsible for how these children “turn out.” God is at work, and they make choices. They are responsible before Him. All I have do is trust and obey the Lord to the best of my ability.