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Family Friday Newsletter - 1.5 min read by Finley Robinson

A Single Sentence from a Season Ahead

Young Adult Kids

As our kids were entering junior high school, it was clear that our family was changing. We were no longer in our power-decade of parenting.

Our influence, voice, time, and role was going to be different. We needed a new vision and a new approach. Our kids required something different from mom and dad.

I thought, prayed, and asked a lot of questions from parents in that stage ahead of us. I reflected on what would be important 5-10 years down the road. Here is the conclusion we came to ...

Here were the assumptions:

1. Our kids will someday leave the home and our everyday lives together. They will leave for education or work and will eventually start a family of their own.
2. If we wanted to have a sustained future relationship with them, then we needed to create a family that they loved to be a part of long term.
3. The foundation of that connected family was laid during the 0-13 years of their life. However, the final 5 years before they left home would be the lasting impression they had of our family.

There is not a mom or dad in the world who will make a lifetime of perfect parenting decisions. However, every parent I've ever met would love to have a good relationship with their young adult children.

This week we've been on vacation with just our family of 5 for the first time since our kids moved out of the house.

I can promise you that if you raise kids who still love home when they leave, you will have more fulfillment than you can imagine. This week with our kids has confirmed that we got a few things right and we've enjoyed our young adult kids more than I could ever imagine.

So, in order to get there ...

• Keep disciplining them
• Keep having family meals
• Keep praying for their character
• Keep opening your home to their friends
• Keep meeting their emotional needs
• Keep building sibling relationships
• Keep working on yourself

See you next Friday - Finley

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