One of the hardest things to do as a parent is to step back and let your children make their mistakes, especially when they become adults. At least it is for me. Do I give them advice as to what to do when I see them about to make the mistake? Absolutely.
The mother in me won’t allow me to just sit back totally and not say a word. But again, it’s not what you say most of the time but how you say it. And in this case, I learned that you have to serve your child, adult or otherwise, the advice in a way that would be appealing enough for them to want more of what you’re giving them and actually take heed to what you’re telling them.
Think of it as if you’re serving them their favorite meal and you have to make sure that you serve it to them on a plate and not a trash can lid. The plate would definitely be more appealing. It’s all in how you present the advice that will make the difference between him or her soaking the knowledge up with a biscuit and be fully prepared when the mistake is made (walking into it with their eyes wide open) or ignore everything that you’ve said because of how you delivered it and end up getting blindsided by whatever comes their way in life. I realized early on once my children became adults that I couldn’t very well treat them the way I did when they were five.
The one thing that I’ve found is that I worry more about them now that they’re adults than I did when they were small children. When they were children, I made the decisions for them, but now that they’re adults, they make their own decisions about their lives. That’s sometimes the scariest thing for me as a parent. The secret is to never let them see that fear and be there for them when they need you because they still need you no matter how old they get or how together they may seem to have things.
**Song of the post- Mama’s Song By: Carrie Underwood**