Engineering vs. Parenting

Out of necessity, structural engineers take their professional obligations very seriously. When I found the following, I couldn't help but appreciate its application to parenting as well. James Arnhein says that engineering is:

"the art and science of molding materials we do not fully understand; into shapes we cannot precisely analyze; to resist forces we cannot accurately predict; all in such a way that the society at large is given no reason to suspect the extent of our ignorance."

Quoted by Kenneth L. Carper in Forensic Engineering, 1989