It certainly seems as if times have changed even for Generation X’ers like me. While our parents told us stories of having to walk three miles in the snow without shoes, uphill (and both ways) to get to school, we just wonder at times why some people are not willing to grow up. Also, some parents spend more time nurturing their kids instead of preparing them for adulthood.

Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska discusses that in his book, ‘The Vanishing American Adult: Our Coming-of-Age Crisis And How to Rebuild a Culture of Self-Reliance‘ on the podcast I co-host, The Fifth Estate. The book does not serve as a blueprint for taking your kids from adolescence into adulthood, but instead, Sasse tells the story of how he and his wife are doing it raising their children. He also talks about the value of hard work, how he thinks education should change and what it means to be “literate” beyond functional literacy.

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