How to Parent Adult Children Successfully: Be a Protector and Role Model

Issue #12

Photo by Carrita Tanner on Unsplash

Welcome to the 12th issue of The Aim and Soar Life, a weekly Christian personal growth and lifestyle newsletter that provides actionable, relatable, biblically rooted content to help you live abundantly and GROW YOU. GOD’S WAY.

Hello Friend!

I’m so elated to welcome a new member to The Aim and Soar Life writing team! Today we have a guest post by editor and writing tutor, Veronica Hollis, owner of The Writing Block, LLC.

When my son was growing up, parenting was often a challenge as I tried to protect him from outside influences, and raise him from a Christian worldview while he was being bombarded with the culture of the world. I’ve found out that it’s even trickier parenting him as a young adult. I find myself walking a fine line, trying to provide guidance in a manner that is pleasing to God, while also allowing him to learn from his mistakes and make decisions on his own.

When parenting adult children (And yes! I know saying adult children is an oxymoron in itself😂) there are a lot of caveats. When do you “mind your business” as opposed to “get in the business”? When do you provide tough love? I wish I could give solid answers to all of these questions, but the truth is, the answers would vary from family to family and situation to situation.

We can’t just boot our kids out of the home when they are 18 and forget about them. God forbid! Young adults need just as much love and guidance from us as they did when they were small children. As they make decisions about colleges, careers, and spouses, they still need our assistance. The critical issue is providing them with what they need without making them feel like they are children instead of adults. Veronica gives us some great things to keep in mind as we navigate this space. 😍

PROTECTOR and ROLE MODEL

by Veronica Hollis

From the moment it was revealed to me that I was pregnant, my existence as a woman shifted. No longer were my concerns only about my husband and myself, but now the child that was growing inside of me.  As blessings would have it, I later learned that instead of one child, there were two—yes, two girls. I was in instant protector mode.