Who Knew!

You often hear about how difficult it is to raise children (I liked to say I was raising adults. I didn’t want my offspring to be forever children). If you don’t think its a challenge, just look at the amount of “child rearing” books there are out there. There is definitely a demand. Justly so, it’s hard.

One of the hardest things, I found, about raising offspring, is that you don’t know if you’re doing a good job. Let’s face it. The moment that you KNOW you’ve done a good job of adult rearing is when they are adults. When they are five and you are trying to teach a life lesson, that ‘test’ isn’t administered until your influence is no longer welcome.

There are some indication… Every time my children left me I would say; “Be Kind, Courteous, Respectful. Have a great day and I love you.” EVERY time. Ad nauseam. The kids got to the point that they either rolled their eyes or said it along with me. But, gods forbid I not say it. They would hesitate, just enough, to remind me to say it. I know this worked because guess what words were most often used to describe my kids while they were young… Kind. Courteous. Respecful.

That isn’t saying much. It isn’t hard to identify young people who have been brought up with manners… even as young as two. And if they are nice teenagers… WELL, good job parents! I’m not saying that they ought not rebel, they need to. But they don’t have to disrespectful in that venture. And good on ya if you can figure out how to rebel and be respectful at the same time.

The hard part, other than knowing if you’re doing a good job, is the stop doing. My children are well into their twenties now. I find it very hard not to put my two cents in on every decision they make. I mean, I have still lived longer than them, I still know better… right? No, I don’t. They are living their own life and I am now just a bystander.

They are doing great! We did our job. Now I have to let them go… But damn it! I Don’t Want To!