From Dr. Jane's Notebook


Preparing for Empty Nest


Parenting, like the rest of life, often seems to require an endless set of skills and abilities. From the time of conception, parents must learn how to protect, feed and care for their young. During their earlier years, we must hold our children close to us, and provide them with safe shelter from the world. However, as they grow, the task changes, and we as parents must learn the difficult and delicate art of "letting go".

When preparing our children for a successful launch into the world, it is helpful to select a frame of reference from which to gather a few words of wisdom. For this, I suggest we take a look at the time-honored sport of bowling. Let’s consider some basic ideas.

Our children are small for a very short period of time. Almost as soon as we get used to them, we have to let them go. When our children are young, we take care of them. When we are old, we hope they will take care of us. In between, we take turns getting knocked down and being picked up. Anybody want to go bowling?

©Copyright, 2000, Jane R. Rosen-Grandon. All rights reserved.

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