I found Stephen R. Covery's experience with his son in his book"The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" inspiring. Just to share some with you:
"...Instead of trying to change him, we (Stephen and his wife) tried to stand apart-to seperate us from him-and to sense his identity, individuality, separateness, and worth."
"...Through deep thought and exercise of faith and prayer, we began to see our son in terms of his own uniqueness. We saw within him layers and layers of potential that would be realized at his own pace and speed. We decided to relax and get out of his way and let his own personality emerge. We saw our natural role as being to affirm, enjoy, and value him. We also conscientiously worked on our motives and cultivated internal sources of secuity so that our own feelings of worth were not depent on our children's "acceptable" behavior."
"...We found ourselves enjoying him instead of comparing or judging him. We stopped trying to clone him in our own image or measure him against social expectations. We stopped trying to kindly, positively manipulate him into an acceptable social mold. Because we saw him as fundamentally adequate and able to cope with life, we stopped protecting him against the radicule of others..."