Before assuming that age has made you wiser, consider that your perspective on things can say as much about you as it does about the other person. Shortly after my younger son got married, I advised him not to sign up for a cramped, 350-square-foot apartment in Manhattan’s West Village—a popular, and very expensive, neighborhood. I couldn’t imagine living in such a small place when my husband and I were first married. My son ignored the advice and last summer signed the lease for another year.

---