Adulting

It was interesting to read this week about the changes that need to occur between parents and their adult children. I have a 20 year old son and an 18 year old daughter. My son doesn’t live at home but was just home visiting for a couple of weeks. Our relationship with him is very “adult”. He respects us and is much more helpful around the house than he was when he lived with us. Our eighteen year old is a different story. She has graduated from high school but is still living with us for another month before she leaves for college. This is a weird transition. We have slowly given her more freedom which is so difficult for me. She would have wanted us to give her 100% freedom the day she turned eighteen but that wasn’t going to happen. It needs to be gradual and the goal of parenting is to teach our children to be independent and responsible. This cannot be done if we make every decision for them, even though I would like to sometimes. Then I remember that it was Satan’s plan to take away agency. Our children need to learn to overcome challenges while they are living with us so we can help them navigate life as they grow.