http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/8964844/Nietzsche-was-right-adversity-makes-you-stronger.html

Some people say that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. My skeptical son is tired of people, especially me, telling him this. He says he has heard and read a lot more about difficult childhoods being associated with criminal behavior.

This is a debate I need to win. He has at least another year of a difficult childhood because he has to wear a brace that limits what he can do physically and he feels isolated in a small town where he doesn't fit in. He dropped out musical theater for the summer because he felt it would be too difficult to rehearse the dances enough to do well in the one hour he could be out of the brace. Musical theater was the only thing he did with other kids. Since we homeschool he is used to being with me all day but I think he gets tired of being around me so much. He asks to be left alone a lot now. We have to get through this.