When we have our children, we are so excited and each day is precious.  We enjoy playing with them when they are babies.  The toddler/pre-school years have their challenges, but those precious little ones steal your heart.  The elementary years are fun.  That’s when your child’s personality begins to shine and they are just a joy to hang out with.  AND THEN THEY BECOME TEENS!

TEENS!  One day they are awesome, amazing young people and the next day they act like someone from another planet.  And we never know which child will appear and for that matter when they will change from one to the other.

One thing I’ve noticed is that girls will express their emotions with drama, you know, crying and screaming and saying you hate them and you don’t understand.  (And you probably won’t, especially if you are a dad).  Boys, on the other hand will express their emotions through anger.  That’s why we have so many angry young men in society.  But the good thing is that they grow out adolescence and into adulthood.

You may be thinking, I can’t wait until my children are adults.  They’ll move out of the house and I won’t be responsible for them.  And that is true, eventually they will move out and will not be responsible for them, but they will always be your child and you will always be their parent. And most importantly, you will always love them and want what is best for them.

Today’s parenting nugget is Parenting lasts forever!  Your parenting style changes;  you can no longer tell an adult child what to do and they probably won’t do it if you do tell them.  The parent/child relationship changes to a mentoring/friendship relationship.  At this point , you can develop an adult friendship with your child, but you must remember you are a mentor.

mentor  {men-tawr, -ter}  noun

1.  a wise and trusted counselor or teacher.

2.  an influential senior sponsor or supporter.