The Scaffold Approach

Stepping back does not mean disappearing. The middle ground is scaffolding — providing just enough support for the child to succeed on their own.

Say your teen has a daunting research paper. Scaffolding is not writing it for them. It's sitting down to help them break it into steps, asking what they'll tackle first, then leaving them to it. Next time, you ask fewer questions. The time after that, they plan it alone.