I had a very bad experience with Mom dropping the ball on parenting when I was 12. It’s a bad time to take a high powered job. I’m lucky to be alive. Teens still need hands on parenting. Call me old fashioned but moms should be around a lot. At the time I was proud that my mom was a big shot and traveling the world giving speeches. But I was left to fend for myself with the wolves. My daughter will have me right there interested in her life and knowing where she is until she comes of age. Kids past puberty need more protection and full time parenting than you think. They are sort of like hormonal toddlers. They need our help, even if they don’t know they do.
There’s a lot to be said in favor of the infrastructure that allows Mom to be able to pick the situations where she says, “Wait until your Dad gets home!” It’s almost like God knew what he was doing when he created the nuclear family.