Protecting our kids

As a parent and counselor I can understand wanting to protect our children. It is hard to watch them fail, hurt and struggle. As an adult it seems natural to not want a child to feel pain or experience a hardship. Some adults go to great lengths to protect children shielding them from everything and others expose them to everything in life that is challenging. How do we draw the line and what is the right amount of exposure good or bad? It seems to be important to know the child. Isn’t some exposure to “real life” important? This struggle can be hard. Kids need problem solving skills , but how much truth is just too much?