The polar explorers came in two flavors. There were those who were sensible and prepared, like Roald Amundsen. And there were those who made poor choices (and who were later, bizarrely, romanticized)--like Ernest Shackleton. I live down the road from the Roald Amundsen of parenting. I love this woman. She considers problems in a steely, pragmatic way. For example, she has required her ADHD kid to take skating lessons. This is not because anyone in the family has expressed an interest in skating--but because skating has physical boundaries, unlike outdoor soccer. The ADHD kid can stray from the lesson--but he can't stray *very* far. My neighbor has a way of handling filial/parent conflict. "You just have to lie. They want to go to Burger King? Tell them it's closed. They notice cars in the parking lot? It's the painters--using toxic paints to get the dining room ready for springtime....." (I adopt this tactic perhaps a bit too enthusiastically. "Susie,"...