I didn’t have an ounce of the courage he had to speak up for somebody else.”

“He had courage,” I said.

“And he needed judgment.”

“Seems like our job is teaching him how to use both.”

On Saturday morning we began a family routine we called the problem-solving breakfast.

It was less grand than it sounded.

Every second Saturday, we ate pancakes and talked about one issue at school or in the neighborhood that worried us.

Anyone could propose an idea.