Michael Thompson on Raising Independent Children 

Extreme parents don't necessarily take a break over the summer. Neither does Michael Thompson. "You know you're an extreme parent," he tells me, "if you send your child to camp for a month and then you go on the website every day to find a smiling picture of your child and you get frantic and call the camp if you can't find one."

Michael Thompson is a psychologist and school consultant. He's author of the book “Homesick and Happy: How Time Away From Parents Can Help A Child Grow."

Some wisdom from Michael Thompson: