That Moment

There are moment s in a parent’s life where you feel your kid has reached a base level on the mountain. For babies it is sleeping all night, a toddler walking or a young teen staying alone without fear in the house at night. Maybe for you it was the older teen driving or planning for college on their own. I think the times a child reaches the different levels in life are important and should be celebrated.

There are times in a young adult’s life when those base camps are set up that you really can’t celebrate with them but you know inside you are throwing a huge party. Those moments are really vital to a young adult’s growth but there is a great danger in your acknowledgement.

It is hard on a parent when you have a young adult son or daughter and they lose a job or maybe two or three jobs in a row. I understand it is hard on the son or daughter but as a parent you want to help and that can have devastating effects on their confidence. There is great value in letting your kids grow up and suffer some failure. There is also great value in letting them know you will always love them and support them emotionally but not financially for life.

I think when you have a child stumble a few times and they finally get that camp set up indicating they have stopped starting over, it is a big deal. The problem is you can’t make a big deal about it because the camp is set up on very fragile ground. For example if they finally mention they need to get better about getting to work on time you can’t say, “I have been saying that for years.” It is in those moments you have to just be happy and keep moving forward. The last thing anyone needs to hear is “I told you so.”

We all know you have said it a million times so reminding people is like saying the sun will come up in the East. It is hard as a parent to accept the destiny that God has for our children especially when that destiny looks nothing like the one we had for them. It takes courage and a lot of love to believe God loves your kids more than you. We all take different paths but we all take the path we are supposed to take to get where we were supposed to be.