Now I know that it is super hard and super scary to let your teens go. You feel that you have raised this child from the day they were conceived and how on earth can they just walk out on you right? No, wrong way to feel about the whole situation.
You spend 18 years molding your child into this responsible adult, so now it is time to try to let go. You have to let your children fly on their own or it will come back to haunt you someday.
We as parents are supposed to love and nurture our children and then when it comes time for them to leave the nest we need to let them see if they can survive on their own. That is the whole reason we are raising these children to see what kind of a world they will make for themselves.
Some parents have a real hard time letting go and some can't wait for them to get out of the house. In order to call yourself a good parent you have to want a little of both. If you have a child that is lazy and you can see he/she is probably going nowhere of course you want them out as soon as possible. If you have a child that is outgoing, has goals, sweet, respectful and responsible you probably don't want them to leave as soon as they are eighteen.
The key here is to be prepared as to what your child might be thinking of doing once they are eighteen. Of course if you child is still in school when they will be eighteen they probably wont leave right away. If your child is not in school and they have a job and have talked about leaving the house when they are eighteen then you have to prepare yourself for that moment. Don't be the reason your child stays or leaves the house. You will regret it the rest of your life.
We as parents need to learn to step back and let these children fly and find out life for themselves. Of course you don't want your child moving halfway across the world, but if that is what your child wants then don't try to stop them or make them feel guilty about doing that. We have had the chance to live our lives and now it's time to let them live theirs no matter what it might be.
We as parents will find out that if we give our children the means if that is possible to live out their own dreams, we will be better parents by handling it. Children need to know that their parents believe in them no matter how much we might not agree with what our children are wanting to do.
We have to believe that we took enough time to show our children what is right and what is wrong and that they will be productive adults. So when you child comes to you and says, "I am going to move out when I am eighteen," take it like an adult and act the right way.
Just discuss their plans and even if you don't agree with them try to understand that you were eighteen once and you most likely felt the same exact way and could not wait to leave the nest.
