Optimize for Better Problems

Scott Belsky gives counterintuitive product advice that applies beautifully to parenting: "Optimize for the problems you want to have."

You want the problem of your kid asking for more independence. You want the problem of them being so into reading they're staying up past bedtime. You want the problem of their social calendar being too full. These are signs that the core things are working.

So don't preemptively solve those problems. Don't set up elaborate systems for managing their independence before they've shown any interest in it. Don't worry about screen time limits for a kid who currently wants nothing but books.

"Make sure they can get through the signup flow," Scott says about products. Translation: make sure they can get through the morning routine, feel connected to you, and go to bed without a four-hour ordeal. Those are the brick walls. Everything else? Those are problems you want to have.

Focus on eliminating catastrophes. The nice-to-have problems will be nice to have.