Reply to What age was the hardest to parent?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I agree it depends, and I like the thoughtful response from the poster above who has the one kid with the strong personality.

From my perspective, as mom to three kids in their early to late 30s, I'd say the mid-20s were the toughest for me. The "kids" made a lot of decisions that flew in the face of what I thought was best, but of course I had no right to object (and didn't).

I have a somewhat controlling personality, so having to be on the sidelines was difficult. Now that my adult kids are older and I'm more used to my role as bystander, it's become easier. I'm still not thrilled with, say, one daughter's professional path or another daughter's choice of spouse, but I accept that it's not my business and I simply enjoy the time I spend with them. [/quote]

Thank you PP, this was really helpful for me to read--my kids are late teens and I'm needing to walk the line between being helpful and supportive without being TOO MUCH and I recognize that part of it is needing to become more comfortable with the bystander role. It's helpful to see what you wrote about just enjoying them and accepting that certain things are in their realm now.

For the other PP who doesn't understand why parenting doesn't stop at 18--I don't think I would have understood this either, before having kids of this age. The best way I can put it is this: if there were a speeding truck toward your 18yo, you would shove him out of the way, right? The hard part of being a parent to a young adult is figuring out the difference between what is a speeding truck and what is the stuff that is just a part of growing up. [/quote]

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