My father gave me some wise advice when he told me, “As a parent, at some point, you have to switch from advisor to cheerleader.”

I hear advice all the time: “Parents need to let children make their own mistakes, let children fail, give them independence,” etc., but I understood that idea much better when my father put it into those terms.

And thinking about my own experience as I was switching from law to writing, I realize how valuable it was for me — when my parents acted as cheerleaders rather than advisors when I was making a challenging decision.

Now that I’m a parent myself, I realize that this is far easier said than done.

Have you had to hold yourself back from giving advice to your children, or other family members?