In “The Self-Driven Child” (2/13/18), Ned Johnson and Dr. William Stixrud join forces to advise parents on … yes, you read it right … giving your kids more control. You might recognize the authors for the ways in which they came to develop this expertise. Mr. Johnson is founder and president of a wildly successful educational company that provides academic tutoring, educational planning and standardized test preparation. Dr. Stixrud is a beloved clinical neuropsychologist. They both talk to kids a lot, and have learned what is bothering kids today — more than anything else, a tremendous amount of stress, anxiety and poor self-esteem. From their different perspectives, the authors have concluded that so many kids struggle with these issues for two reasons: (1) they don’t get to make important life decisions for themselves; and (2) their parents do everything for them, making them feel their parents think they are not competent to do it themselves. The authors’ prescription: encourage, or at least allow, your kids to be autonomous about things they are capable of doing, and to learn from their mistakes. This will not only allow them the satisfaction of figuring it out themselves, but also to be resilient and to handle stress well. And especially for kids with ADHD, a sense of control is necessary for the child to develop internal motivation (a desire to do something because you enjoy it or it is satisfying to you) and self-drive.