Part one focused on the home environment and how to make it a place where your kids can establish healthy attachments, feel loved and accepted, and have the space they need to grow and expand their horizons. These aspects of parenting, which are firmly under your coaching and influence, can be challenging enough even under ideal circumstances.

But as you know, children move beyond their home environment. Even though we want to do everything in our power to equip our kids with the skills, the knowledge, and the attitudes they need to succeed in life, there’s a sense in which all bets are off once they step outside the front door.

As hard as we parents try to guard our kids, we’re not the only influences in their lives. And even when we do all we can, our kids may still face circumstances that hurt them. Seeing a child get hurt is probably one of the hardest things a parent can experience, even if it’s not a life-threatening kind of harm. We don’t want our kids to hurt—of course we don’t! And we will protect them from the things we can.

Yet like it or not, we need to be aware of unforeseen situations that can take our children by surprise and shake their spiritual, mental, and emotional stability. Worldly values, significant losses, divorce, domestic violence, and bullying all fall under this category.