Modern children grow up in a freedom that genuinely didn’t exist before. They can be exactly who they are — and be completely at ease about it. What makes this interesting is what they do with it. A boy performs barefoot at a concert so a classmate in the wrong shoes won’t be embarrassed. An 8-year-old tells his father that spilled tea is fine. A 16-year-old hosts a party at a family house and returns it in perfect order.These 18 stories about modern kids, kindness, kinship and parenting remind us that the generation everyone worries about is quietly doing something remarkable.