Today I was thinking of preventive parenting; how we can be more proactive about raising great, strong men and women that will be ready to face adversity in the world.
One of our strategies as parents, has always been to make friends with other parents that "come from the future." It is a very simple form of time travel: befriend parents that have children of an older age range than our children. When our children were 1 to 10 years old, for example, we looked for friends that had children between 10 to 18 years old; parents with more kids typically would provide bigger age ranges.
The benefit? You will start seeing what comes next, what are the challenges their older children are overcoming, what is working for these parents and what is not working. Also, you will learn what tools are available out there now, like books, clases, clubs, etc., so you can educate yourselves and make sure that your children have the right tools in their life backpacks to overcome adversity, struggle, being neglected, bullied... and prevent or avoid these situations when possible, and deal with them when they are inevitable.
Being better prepared as parents is important, always leaving our worries in the hands of GOD, knowing that we are not alone; He has our backs.