Barbara J. Hamby

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Do We Ever Stop Parenting?

While I was waiting in my chiropractor’s reception room today, I discovered all the magazines were either for skiing or bicycling (neither of which I do) or for young parents. The cover of Parents magazine had a headline for potty training. None of that reading reached out to me at my age.

It occurred to me there should be a magazine for parents of adult children. Give us some guidance on how not to over-parent or alienate our grown up kids. I’m not up for editing a magazine, but I might contribute articles if someone else wanted to take up such a project.

As I grow older, it seems to me that, once a parent--always a parent is the name of the game. It’s easier to be a good parent when your own parents are still around to answer your questions. As much as we all protest we don’t want to be like our mother or father, unless a parent was a criminal or abusive, most of us don’t mean it.

I certainly don’t need any more projects these days. I can’t keep up with all the writing projects I have started as it is. The other long procrastinated tasks, such as getting pictures into albums and organizing family correspondence may never be finished. But I live in hope.