You make a convincing case that beauty and brains are false values that demoralize kids who don’t think they measure up. But what values do you suggest that I teach to my children?

I believe the most valuable contribution a parent can make to his child is to instill in him or her a genuine faith in Jesus Christ. What greater sense of self-worth could there be than knowing that the Creator of the universe is acquainted with me personally? That He values me more than the possessions of the entire world; that He understands my fears and my anxieties; that He reaches out to me in immeasurable love when no one else cares; that He actually gave His life for me; that He can turn my liabilities into assets and my emptiness into fullness; that a better life follows this one, where the present handicaps and inadequacies will all be eliminated– where earthly pain and suffering will be no more than a dim memory! What a beautiful philosophy with which to “clothe” your tender child. What a fantastic message of hope and encouragement for the broken teenager who has been crushed by life’s circumstances. This is true self-worth at its richest, dependent not on the whims of birth or social judgment or the cult of the superchild but on divine decree.