Adult Children

When you held that tiny baby in your arms and your heart overflowed with unconditional love, you probably never thought you would read an article like this. It can be pretty surreal to discover you are the parent of adult children. Your roles have changed for good. They no longer come running to you when they skin their knees, or someone calls them a name at school. They are adults. Full grown, mature adults. With the dynamics in your relationship changing, it can sometimes be hard to know what the rules are. If you can’t phone their work to give their boss heck for being so mean to them, how will they ever know you love them? It actually isn’t complicated, but

So, your children aren’t children anymore. When did they grow up and become adults anyway? Often, that depends on us as parents. Do we allow them to grow up, or do we hold them back by rescuing and enabling? It’s a hard realization, but if they are to become adults, we must see them as adults, and accept that we are parenting grown kids. When they were toddlers, if we had picked them up every time they fell, they would never learn to walk alone. Likewise, as adult children, they would never learn life’s crucial lessons if we were to save them from every fall—nor would they engage in the reflective process required to grow from their mistakes. That doesn’t mean we are

Our “baby” of five kids is just two short weeks away from being 21. It occurs to me that even though he’s living with us temporarily and working, he’s for all intents and purposes grown, though maybe not entirely gone. It also occurs to me that it’s the first time since I became a mother 37 years ago that I’ve felt completely free to do exactly as I please with my time every single day. I haven’t had this kind of freedom since, well, ever. After my college years, there was the teaching job and the wedding and the children who began showing up. After three, I was unable to have any more, so we adopted two, mainly because I couldn’t imagine

I sat in the passenger seat of our SUV in the parking garage, hot and exhausted. Sweat from the 112-degree Phoenix summer sun ran down my spine while my eyes stayed glued to the back of my six-foot-tall baby boy walking towards the garage stairs. Time stopped as I watched him pause on the top step. 18 years flew by so quickly. Didn’t we just bring him home from the hospital on a snowy March afternoon? He turned to wave, shooting us a quick smile, then disappearing down the staircase into a new life, a new adventure, a new chapter of his life. But where did that leave me? Some moms might have felt the sting of him walking away. Away from

So you’ve just spent hours in the Target dorm room aisles… Shopping for color-coordinated linens and accessories for your daughter’s new dorm room. Or, if it’s your son, you were probably trying to convince him that he actually needs a bedspread to go along with his trunk full of technology (that will absolutely make it into his new “college student man cave”). Now you’ve delivered them, set up their new world, and driven or flown away. You feel the anxiety of their absence. Can they get along without you making sure the laundry is done, the curfew is adhered to, and the insurance is paid? Well, you’ve spent the last 18 years getting them to this point, so the assumption is that

A mother’s love doesn’t end when their children grow up. Parenting an adult child is complex and wonderful. These articles explore the dynamic relationship from all sides to help mothers thrive in this new role.   5 Great Reads for Mothers of Adult Children   How to Be a Praying Parent Throughout Your Child’s Life Your children will never stop needing you, and you’ll always be ready to lend a helping hand or some sage advice. But intercessory prayer is a great tool for your children to find their way, both when they’re young and on their own, and this article is packed with sweet anecdotes and important areas to pray over. How to Be a Praying Parent Throughout Your Child’s Life