Welcome to a Little Happier.

I'm Gretchen Ruben.

This many episode is brought to you by the moment of happiness.

My email newsletter where I send you a happiness quotation every day for free.

If you'd like to get the moment of happiness, just email me at podcast at GretchenRuben.com

and write quote newsletter in the subject line and I'll sign you up.

A few days ago, my family and I dropped off my younger daughter Eleanor at Sauracamp.

It's her first time at Sleepaway Camp, her first time at this camp.

And I think like many parents, I felt anxious.

Was she going to have a good time?

Was she going to make friends?

Was everything going to be okay?

I'm really waiting to get that first letter.

And as I was thinking about this and feeling concerned for her, I comforted myself by remembering

something that I had read in a book by one of my favorite writers about parenting.

I'm just a big fan of the work of Michael Thompson.

And one of the books that he wrote is called Mom They're Teasing Me.

And it's about basically issues related to children's friendships.

And the book talks a lot about how to help children at risk and about how to handle school

and neighborhood problems.

But one of the main points that Michael Thompson makes, and this is the thing that really

comforted me, was that we can't spare our children normal social pain.

...