I visited that professor every single week for the remainder of the semester. I was pretty much the only student who ever went to his office hours, so we were able to work on problems for 2 hours straight every week. I understood everything from that point forward and ended up getting an A on every other exam and a B in the course.

Senior year I had the highest grade on the senior engineering project – out of 400 students, some with betters GPAs than mine. I earned my BS in biomedical engineering, then a few years later earned a Masters and finally a Ph.D. (with no specific help from dad, other than he paid for two of my courses one year).

My parents raised me and my siblings to be very independent, but they helped us get up when we fell down. They didn’t feel the need to watch us struggle if they could help out and we could also learn from the process. I was 16 when I started college and too young and scared to talk to the professor on my own. So my dad did what he knew I couldn’t. For the rest of my academic career, I was able to do it myself because I had learned from the experience.

Now that I have 4 children of my own, I understand the difference between doing too much for your kids as opposed to being there as a support system and “consultant.” I think my parents struck a good balance. 20 years later, and 10 years since my father passed away, I remember those moments – the times when he helped pick me up and quiet my fears. That’s what dads are for.

Thank you for the post – I enjoyed reading it.

I visited that professor every single week for the remainder of the semester. I was pretty much the only student who ever went to his office hours, so we were able to work on problems for 2 hours straight every week. I understood everything from that point forward and ended up getting an A on every other exam and a B in the course.

Senior year I had the highest grade on the senior engineering project – out of 400 students, some with betters GPAs than mine. I earned my BS in biomedical engineering, then a few years later earned a Masters and finally a Ph.D. (with no specific help from dad, other than he paid for two of my courses one year).

My parents raised me and my siblings to be very independent, but they helped us get up when we fell down. They didn’t feel the need to watch us struggle if they could help out and we could also learn from the process. I was 16 when I started college and too young and scared to talk to the professor on my own. So my dad did what he knew I couldn’t. For the rest of my academic career, I was able to do it myself because I had learned from the experience.

Now that I have 4 children of my own, I understand the difference between doing too much for your kids as opposed to being there as a support system and “consultant.” I think my parents struck a good balance. 20 years later, and 10 years since my father passed away, I remember those moments – the times when he helped pick me up and quiet my fears. That’s what dads are for.

Thank you for the post – I enjoyed reading it.

It is hard to step away from wanting to protect them and I still occasionally struggle with not calling or emailing a teacher about something. More often what I find myself doing is teaching them to protect, or advocate, for themselves and then being there to wipe the tears and offer comfort when it doesn’t work out the way they want it to.

I really enjoyed this post, Sean!

It is hard to step away from wanting to protect them and I still occasionally struggle with not calling or emailing a teacher about something. More often what I find myself doing is teaching them to protect, or advocate, for themselves and then being there to wipe the tears and offer comfort when it doesn’t work out the way they want it to.

I really enjoyed this post, Sean!