My 17-month-old daughter, Vivi, loves my belly. Several times a day, she toddles over, tugs my shirt up until my bare, decidedly non-washboard stomach is exposed, and plunges both hands into it.

A few months ago, Rita Wilner’s previously sweet 10-year-old son, Robbie, became a walking, talking personification of back talk. He said, “Who cares?” to Rita when she was telling him what happened to her that day and began making defiant, angry comments like, “No. I won’t!” to his dad.

Parents and teachers often underestimate how far a tween can be trusted and how much he or she can manage challenges, contribute good ideas, be responsible and problem solve.

Parents work hard so they can afford to raise their children in good neighborhoods, send them to the best schools and surround them with creature comforts. But according to Madeline Levine, Ph.D., author of “The Price of Privilege: How Parental Pressure and Material Advantage Are Creating a Generation of Disconnected and Unhappy Kids,” there can be a flip side to this affluence.