Never involve your kids at all? Sure these kinds of issues should not be their responsibility, but to act like the world is not full of challenges can be a huge disservice too. Our children will have to face life challenges. Life can be full of difficulty and wouldn't it be better they are prepared to face those challenges instead of being blindsided? Might our children have more empathy, too, if they understand the struggles people face?

I feel like most parents fall into two camps: hide your child from everything difficult OR overburden them with all of life's difficulties and your emotional nueroses. My husband comes from the former and I come from the latter and both of us are deeply damaged in different ways. The approach we take with our children is this in between: "Life is full of challenges, but no challenge is impossible to overcome. This is the challenge I am facing right now and these are the steps I will take to fix it." The challenge is there, but it is my responsibility and it is manageable and I will model for you a healthy way to manage it.