"It's important to be reality-based."
-- analyst on CNN after the presidential election in the US

Forget politics, let's talk parenting.

The folks who looked clearly at the numbers (at reality) called this election weeks ago. The folks who were embroiled in their own ideologies (on both sides) blew the call.  They couldn't see what was obvious in the numbers (Nate Silver Predicts Every State Correctly).
 
In other words, put aside preconceived notions about the world and look, carefully and with clear eyes, at what really is. Who is your child? What are her strengths? What are his weaknesses? Only with this firmly in mind can a parent chart a path to victory.

Reality isn't the enemy when it comes to raising children.  Celebrate what's there--then get out of the way.

(Diana Holquist is the author of Battle Hymn of the Tiger Daughter, a parenting memoir about raising exceptional children without destroying childhood.)