KIDS ARE DOING EVERYTHING earlier these days. That’s not a fresh thought, to say the least. You have to figure that every generation of parents in history has said the same thing. Go back a thousand years to the Norman conquest, or two thousand years to the life of Jesus, or three thousand years to the building of Jerusalem by King David, or four thousand years to Pharoah seeing the Jews walk through the Red Sea and saying, “If they can do it, we can do it. Follow me.” It’s not hard to imagine an ancient father lecturing a precocious son with, “I don’t care if Isaachar’s parents let him go to the bazaar alone. If Isaachar jumped off the Tower of Babel, would you do that, too?”
Still . . . Kids are doing everything earlier these days. Our oldest started sleeping over at friends’ houses last year. He was six. Just before we drove him to the first sleepover, I said to my wife, “You know, honey, I don’t believe I stayed at anyone’s house until I was twelve. Maybe more.” She pretended I hadn’t been speaking, and off we went.
