Mothers of grown kids probably won’t get breakfast in bed or some kind of craft made out of macaroni for Mother’s Day this Sunday, like they did when their kids were little. But mothers of older teens and twentysomething deserve appreciation, too! Because parenting an adult can be hard work.
Diapers and tantrums come with the territory of motherhood. But if you happen to be the mother of a twentysomething, you know that your mothering duties hardly ended when your child turned 18. Today’s parents of millennials are helping their kids navigate college papers, job-hunting, finding a place to live, and all the other thorny issues that go along with emerging adulthood. This is the stage of parenting no no one ever told you about. Jeffrey Jensen Arnett and Elizabeth Fishel write about this stage, and how you can help your child through it, in When Will My Grown Up Kid Grow Up?. Here are the top things parents of emerging adults worry about, according to a survey the authors conducted:
- Money: 48 percent (I’m still waiting for him/her to become financially self-sufficient)
- Occupational progress: 39 percent (Will s/he ever get off the couch and find a job?)
- Substance use or abuse: 36 percent (I wish s/he partied less)
- Educational progress: 27 percent (It seems as is s/he’s been in school forever)
- Romantic life: 19 percent (I think s/he could do better)
- Sex life: 9 percent (I prefer s/he not share a bed with a partner in our home when I am there)
Parents: they never stop being parents. This Mother’s Day, take a second to appreciate all your mother did to raise you…and everything she continued to do after you thought you were already raised.
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