In living rooms across America, parents wrestle with a persistent fear: that every misstep, every harsh word, or every moment of inattention will irreversibly shape their children’s future. Dr. Michael Milobsky, a pediatrician in Colorado, says this fear is largely misplaced.

According to Milobsky, the long-term trajectory of a young person’s life is influenced far more by the neighborhoods they grow up in, the peers who surround them, and the genetic hand they’re dealt than by the daily choices of their parents.

“When we were younger parents, we were extremely rigid. We believed that if we could control every little thing, our kids would turn out perfectly, a shining reflection of us,” Milobsky, a father of seven children, tells TODAY.com. “But that’s a total fallacy.”

The reality, Mil

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