Life never stays still. As parents, it seems our kids change daily. Just as soon as we wrap our heads around potty training, Kindergarten sneaks up on us. In what feels like a blink of an eye, we are attending their 5th-grade graduation. The following years of Middle and High School, we see our children transform before our eyes. They go from children to full-grown adults and quickly get ready to launch out into the great big world! It’s the thing we, as parents, spend countless hours praying and preparing for. From infancy to 18, we are shepherding our kids’ hearts relentlessly so they are ready to be a light in this world.
Just like that, they are no longer our “babies”; they are adults we can pray for, advise, and encourage but no longer take the role as you did when they were growing under the same roof. This seemingly overnight change can be hard to keep up with, but we have to prepare our hearts to let go in many ways in order for our relationships to make the metamorphosis into one of adults who respect and care for each other.
What makes this tricky is that our kids don’t always launch into adulthood the way we’d hoped. We have invested so much into these people it can be heart-wrenching to see them live out their own life detours. Just as when they are small, we want to make it all okay for them. We have to remember they are God’s, not ours, and life’s best lessons are often learned through failure, not just success. Trusting God as you allow your kid’s space sometimes to stumble and other times thrive is an important skill to learn. Here is what some of that can look like for us parents:
Photo credit: ©Getty Images/Dean Mitchell
Amanda Idleman
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