Making your kids the centerpiece of your life may seem like a good idea, but generally, it’s not. Besides the more obvious risks and dangers such as over protection, indulgence, and other practices that can lead to a sense of entitlement and prolonged dependency, making your children’s happiness your highest priority can result in an unanticipated and undesired consequence. This consequence is the promotion of the idea that marriage requires the sacrifice of one’s personal needs and desires in order to fulfill the higher moral imperative of responsible child rearing.

There’s no question that some degree of sacrifice is required for any relationship worth its salt to be successful, but the real question for parents is always, “Where is the line between my responsibility to my children, my responsibility to my spouse, and my responsibility to myself?”