I raised 2 successful CEOs and a doctor. Here’s the ‘unpopular’ parenting rule I always used on my kids

We are doing too much for our children. Helicopter parenting is when we remove obstacles so that our children don't have to deal with challenges.

I followed a lot of unpopular parenting rules when I was a single mother. Don't do anything for your children that they can't do for themselves.

It worked out for my girls. Susan is the CEO ofYouTube, Janet is a doctor, and Anne is the co- founder and CEO of 23andMe. They were at the top of their profession.

The more you allow your children to do things on their own, the more confident they will be. Guided practice is the key to begin.

You can do this with a lot of simple actions.

• Waking up: Have them set their own alarm.
• Getting dressed: Let them pick their own outfit.
• Breakfast/lunch/dinner: Give them simple tasks like stirring the pancake batter, cleaning their lunchbox and setting the table.
• Getting their backpack ready: Have them run through a list of what they need to bring that day.
• Making plans: Let them come up with weekend or after school activities.
• Checking homework: It’s okay if they don’t get 100% of the answers correct. Let them learn from the mistakes.

It's important that chores are done correctly. We had a lot of washing dishes in our house. The girls stood on a stool at the sink and washed the dishes.

I would ask them to get two pounds of apples. They had to use the scale and pick out the good ones.

They would be able to help me decide what to put back.

My daughters were supposed to make their own beds. That's right, ha! A kid made a bed that looked like she was sleeping. They didn't fight me. I was happy whenever they did it.

It takes a long time to get it right. This was taught to me by being a teacher. One of the characteristics of a good teacher in the 80s and 90s was that they were so hard that a lot of students failed.

The kids who got a D on their first paper didn't have the motivation to improve since they were so far behind.

They were given the chance to revise their work as often as they wanted. The final product was used to calculate their grade. My students performed in the 90th percentile of state exams when they took them.

Not getting it right the first time was what I wanted to reward.

I am not suggesting that you make your kids do things they don't understand or aren't capable of, nor am I suggesting that you walk to the store if the neighborhood is dangerous.

They want to teach them how to deal with life's ups and downs. The only thing you can control is how you react to things.

Kids feel more confident when they are allowed to make their own decisions. There is no limit to what they can do.

Esther is the author of "How to Raise Successful People" and the co-founder of Tract.app. She can follow her on the social networking site.

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