Biologically speaking, a teenager’s brain is something of a train wreck. For starters, it’s low in myelin, the coating that allows various regions to communicate with one another. Meanwhile, the prefrontal cortex is developing at warp speed, so things that a child once took for granted—like the idea that their parents know what they’re talking about—suddenly seem ripe for reevaluation. Thus, in addition to acting on seemingly every impulse, a teen is programmed to break away from their parents. This is natural and healthy, but that doesn’t make it any easier for a parent—even a wildly successful and wealthy one, like LeBron James.
I mention this because James now has two teenage sons and, as happens for all parents who hit this point, the changes can be startling. “Hell yeah, it’s bittersweet to see your kids grow into their own,” he said when I brought it up this summer in his hometown of Akron, Ohio. At the time, James was sitting with his sons Bronny, 17, and Bryce, 15, and we were commiserating about brain chemistry and independence and all the rest. (I have two teenage daughters myself.) James went on to talk about his own experience growing apart from his mom, and how he now tries to focus on what matters most for his kids, “because it’s hard as hell to find happiness in this life that we’ve been brought into.”
While it’s impossible for any of us to judge someone else’s happiness, it would seem that, at 37 and entering his 20th year of pro basketball, James has done as much as anyone to achieve that ideal. He’s evolved into a statesman and advocate; become a billionaire; plowed money, time and infrastructure back into his hometown; lifted up childhood friends; brought titles to every team he’s played for; defied the ravages of time; and, along with his wife, Savannah, raised three children who seem remarkably normal, all things considered.
