The Joys of Parenting Adult Children
Today, I rest in my comfy white chair with the sun pouring through my studio window. Reflecting on my 4 children, I am loving the joys of parenting these 4 adults. It’s a wonderful feeling to know they are well and thriving. All over 20 now, I am immensely proud of each of them. Although, not every day is spent reminiscing good days gone by.
For sure, they are the “Oh Happy” to my “Day”, the skip in my step, the peanut butter to my jelly. To this day I spend most of my time thinking about them and planning times to see them and/or bless them from afar.
However, it has not all been sunshine and roses.
They say the terrible twos are the worst, but I deeply disagree. When children are little, you can discipline them! It’s not quite as easy when they are 18! This presents a bit of a challenge!
I really want my kids to make the right decisions. And by “the right decisions” I mean the decisions I want them to make! Let’s just be real.
The pains they go through whether self-inflicted or circumstantial are my pain. Their accomplishments, I celebrate. Their joys I feel to my bones!
This Mama is learning to accept their ways as an expression of themselves, just as I did when they were little. When one of my girls would walk down the hall, it would always be zig-zagged and swinging her long hair. The youngest son would proceed down said hall as the superhero of the day. My older son was always running… always. And my oldest daughter pranced down every hall as the princess she was.
No two approached a task as simple as walking in the same manner. I came to love that about them. Now as they walk down the hallways of life, I am learning to see their approaches as their unique expression.
They will get hurt, they will fall down, but I will be there to pick them up and always love them. It is no longer my job to discipline (I say with a sigh of letting go).
-SimplySunni