I’m not the kind of mother who normally brushes her daughter’s hair, and my daughter has never liked sitting there, waiting for me to do it.

But today, I’ve sat my daughter Sally on a kitchen seat. She’s sitting high with her eyes closed, skin still wet from the shower, and her long hair behind her back. I realize she is enjoying the moment. It’s the last time for a week that our bodies will connect. Today, I’m sending Sally away for a week of summer camp. This was all my idea. She’s nearly 12, and I noticed that I’m with my child nearly 24 hours a day.

Living on a farm without any neighbors, I’ve chosen a life that is quieter than a normal family’s. But rather than expecting space away from me, Sally has become increasingly dependent. What frightens me most is that she has become a “mini-me”, even has the same hobbies, dreams, and opinions as me. That’s why I pulled her to the summer camp: a nearby wilderness(荒野) camp called Hawk Circle.

After eating, I drive Sally to Hawk Circle. Once there, we are introduced to her fellow campers. Sally stands by them, holding my hand, horror in her eyes, trying to work up the courage to join a game of soccer. “I need you for a few more minutes,” she tells me. I pull her away to walk to one of the camp’s workers. “Excuse me,” I say loudly, “I’d like to introduce you to my daughter. Maybe you could help her meet a few of these kids.” He comes over to talk to Sally, and then I disappear before she realizes it.

It is a hard time for me to drive back. When I arrive home, I calm down and remind myself why I chose this way. I want Sally to have a chance to find herself. I want to learn who she is. If I don’t set her free, I fear I’ll never really meet her real personality.

We’re not sure where letting children drink wine fits into permissive, authoritarian and authoritative parenting styles, but a research team from the University of New South Wales are trying to find it out.

During their study, researchers discovered that kids who were given alcohol by their parents were more likely to be consuming whole drinks by the time they were 15 or 16, but were far less likely to binge-drink(酗酒).

The researchers analyzed nearly 2,000 Year 7 students and their parents over a four-year period. They measured the teenagers’ consumption of whole drinks, their binge drinking—consuming four or more drinks at a time, as well as who supplied them with the alcohol: their parents, friends, or other adults. The study found that when children were given alcohol from their parents, they were least likely to binge-drink.

But what about the long-reported damage that alcohol can have on developing teenage brains? Lead author of this study, Professor Richard Mattick, says that giving children alcohol at an earlier age could serve as a preventative measure of kids developing alcohol-related problems later in life.   “There’s a body of research indicating the adolescent brain is still developing well into the early 20s and alcohol may prevent the best development,” says Professor Mattick. “But also we know parents want to do the right thing for their children and there has been anecdotal evidence that children introduced to alcohol by their parents, as is common in some European cultures, may be less likely to develop problems with alcohol.”

However, there’s one result from the study Professor Mattick can’t ignore: that being given alcohol at an early age by the parents doubled (使加倍) children’s possibility of drinking than their peers (同龄人). “There may be later harms that are not yet obvious, and we’re aware that an early start of drinking is strongly associated with later alcohol use problems in adulthood—putting it off is the best strategy.”

An 80-year-old man was sitting on the sofa in his house along with his 45-year-old son. Suddenly a crow (乌鸦) landed on their window.

The father asked his son, “What is that?”

The son replied, “That is a crow.”

After a few minutes, the father asked his son for the second time, “What is this?”

The son said, “Father, I told you just now. It’s a crow.”

After a little while, the father asked his son the same question for the third time, “What is this?”

This time, the son said to his father in a low and cold tone, “It’s a crow, a crow.”

After a moment, the father yet again asked his son for the fourth time, “What is this?”

This time his son shouted at his father, “Why do you keep asking me the same question again and again? I have told you already, ‘IT IS A CROW’. Are you not able to understand this?”

A minute later the father went to his room and came back with a diary, which he had kept since his son was born. On opening a page, he asked his son to read that page.

Today my little son aged three was sitting with me on the sofa when a crow suddenly landed on the window edge. My son asked me 23 times what it was, and I replied him 23 times that it was a crow. I hugged him lovingly each time he asked me the same question. I didn’t at all feel angry, but instead felt affection for my son.

If your parents reach old age, do not look at them as a burden, but speak to them gently, and be kind to them. From today say this aloud, “I want to see my parents happy forever. They have cared for me ever since I was a little child. They have always showered me with love. I will take care of my old parents in the best way no matter how they behave.”