Even though the “usual” order of things is supposed to involve parents teaching their children, I’m surprised at how often the reverse is true.

When my 14-year-old son, Jaden, decided that he wanted to compete in the Junior Olympic Track and Field Championships  (3000M) and be the #1 runner on the high school cross country team as a freshman, they didn’t feel like entirely impossible goals—he’s a talented runner who made the varsity track team as a seventh grader—but even for such a gifted athlete it was certainly ambitious.