Parenting, Lesson 108

A parent sees her role change as her child grows. Responsibility shifts as the child matures, until that point (probably around age 18) at which the child can take care of herself adequately.

There will, of course, be periods of resistance to the new independence—both from the parent, who may feel that she is becoming less important to the growing child, and from the child, who recognizes that things can be a heck of a lot easier if someone else was in charge of the nitty gritty details.

But all in all, a parent should feel pride as the child confidently accepts more responsibility for herself.

This will be difficult in certain situations. For example, if a child feels ill during the night and can get herself to the toilet before vomiting (twice!), and doesn’t think it necessary to alert a parent because the child in question had things under control (“Well, you were sleeping, and I knew what I needed to do”).

Yay Impera. (I still feel a bit conflicted about it, though. *Sigh*)