My parental role as a mom didn’t cease the moment Toodlez and Junior turned 18. In fact, my role expanded to include the raising of adult children. Yes, I did use the word “raising”. Contrary to what some may think, I’m personally a firm believer that 18 year olds still need a little growing up to do and can use some raising (parental influence) to help them along in that respect. Because with additional years of life comes maturity, experience, and great responsibility. At age 18, most have a long road to travel in their pursuit of appropriately applied maturity and responsibility. And here’s where a mom to adults must turn on the illumination, not hide it under a bushel. No! There are obviously going to be a number of lesson plans that we need to carry out if we intend to assist our adult children along a successful path in this next phase of their lives.
Toodlez turned 18 first; and that was the moment I entered into the unchartered territory of a first-time mom to an adult child. Wow! When I reflect and look back, the time it took to get to that point went by incredibly fast. And now, my second child is 18 and I’m relishing in the fact that I’m no longer a newbie but wholeheartedly enjoying my role in this next degree of maternity (a.k.a., stage of motherhood). I used to carry around the notion that I wanted to keep my children little as long as possible. I desired them to need me in their lives; but I naturally came into direct contact with the old adage, “a mother’s work is never done” (or maybe it’s actually, “a woman’s work is never done”). Either way, I now understand the meaning and am in total agreement with it.
Simply stated, our children will always need us, no matter how old they get. They just may need us differently as adults than they did when they were in their pre-adult years. I know this to be true because I still need my mother to this very day. All along, I’ve needed her love, her wisdom, her example, her motherly influence in my life. So, while Little Man definitely needs me, so do Toodlez and Junior. And that, my friend, is the joy of raising children regardless of their age. A mom’s role grows as her children grow; and we will remain in our roles as long as we’re here to mother our children and our children are here to be mothered. Talk about the best tenured position EVER! Boy, I sure do LOVE my job!
degreesofmaternity.com 