{"id":70973,"date":"2024-03-21T16:56:41","date_gmt":"2024-03-21T09:56:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alternatech.net\/?p=70973"},"modified":"2024-03-21T16:56:41","modified_gmt":"2024-03-21T09:56:41","slug":"watching-our-kids-grow-up-is-so-bittersweet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/legendstitch.com\/watching-our-kids-grow-up-is-so-bittersweet\/","title":{"rendered":"Watching Our Kids Grow Up Is So Bittersweet"},"content":{"rendered":"<h4><span style='\"font-size:' color:>Our kids need a chance to prove they can fly on their own\n<p><span style='\"font-size:'>I think the bittersweet feeling of watching our kids grow up is especially challenging when they\u2019re going through their \u201cyou can\u2019t hug me in public\u201d phase. One moment, they\u2019re holding our hands and skipping along next to us down the aisle. The next, they\u2019re downright shocked by any implication that we\u2019re even thinking about making physical contact with them in front of other people.\n<p><span style='\"font-size:'>\u201cMy son is 15,\u201d a friend said when we were talking about this. \u201cHe went through this whole phase where he would get embarrassed if I even talked to him in public! Then, one day when I dropped him off at a friend\u2019s house, he hugged me goodbye in front of everyone. I was shocked! Overjoyed, of course, but completely shocked. Just like that, I was \u2018cool\u2019 again!\u201d\n<p><span style='\"font-size:'>As I listened to her story- and that of other parents- I started to think about something. Our kids need a chance to spread their wings and prove to themselves that they can fly without our help. So, they push us away. Once they know that they really can survive away from the nest, they start flying back to us. Before we know it, they\u2019re all grown up and flying beside us.\n<p><span style='\"font-size:'>Okay, enough with the bird metaphor. What I\u2019m trying to say is this: at some point, our kids go from actually needing us to proving that they don\u2019t need us to realize that it\u2019s okay to want us even if they can do it all on their own.\n<p><span style='\"font-size:'>Does that make sense or are you thinking I should have stuck with the bird metaphor, now?\n<h4><span style='\"font-size:' color:>Spending time with grown children is like visiting the most precious parts of our lives\n<p><span style='\"font-size:'>I saw a quote the other day that said, \u201cSpending time with your grown children is like visiting the most beautiful and precious part of your life.\u201d Plus, we not only get to revisit those days, though, but we get to make all of these great new memories that we\u2019ll cherish forever.\n<p><span style='\"font-size:'>At least, that\u2019s how I imagine it will be. My kids are still a few years off from becoming \u201cgrown children,\u201d but I can already see how that quote rings so true. Every time my almost-teen son asks for my help with something, I get these happy little flashes to when he was little and still needed me for everything. The older he gets, the more nostalgic those moments make me feel.\n<h4><span style='\"font-size:' color:>No matter how old they get, they will always be our babies\n<p><span style='\"font-size:'>My friend with the teenager shared another story that I think illustrates this point. One day, her son was struggling to tie a pair of shoes with super short laces while balancing his phone under his arm and trying to fend off the family dog, who was excited about going outside with him.\n<p><span style='\"font-size:'>\u201cI asked if he wanted help, and he looked at me like I had two heads for suggesting that a high school sophomore let his mommy tie his shoes,\u201d she said. \u201cFinally, after five minutes of this, he gave in. He quietly whispered, \u2018But I\u2019m not a baby, okay?\u2019 as he let me tie his shoes. \u2018You may not be a baby, but you\u2019ll always be my baby,\u2019 I whispered back.\u201d\n<p><span style='\"font-size:'>And that\u2019s the thing, the big takeaway, the balm that soothes our nostalgic souls. Throughout the years, our kids will go through so many phases. From clingy to standoffish, from \u201cdo it for me\u201d to \u201cI\u2019ll do it myself.\u201d One day, they\u2019ll become our best friends, our partners in crime, our confidants, and maybe even our caregivers.\n<p><span style='\"font-size:'>No matter, what, though, they\u2019ll always (always, always, always) be our babies. It\u2019s so true. No matter how grown up and how independent they will eventually be, our children will always be our children. We will always feel the need to protect them and guide them in the right direction.\n<p><span style='\"font-size:'>A mother never stops caring, it is just in our nature to always look after our kids. And those kids no matter how old they are will always need \u201cmom\u201d. That makes everything just a little less bittersweet, don\u2019t you think?\n<h4><span style='\"font-size:' color:>Happiness is realizing your kids have grown into good people\n<p><span style='\"font-size:'>I\u2019ll leave you with one last quote, \u201cHappiness is when you realize your children have turned out to be good people.\u201d The only way that we can come to that realization, though, is to let our kids grow up, no matter how bittersweet that may be.\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Our kids need a chance to prove they can fly on their own I think the bittersweet feeling of watching our kids grow up is especially challenging when they\u2019re going through their \u201cyou can\u2019t hug me in public\u201d phase. One moment, they\u2019re holding our hands and skipping along next to us down the aisle. The\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":70981,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"I think the bittersweet feeling of watching our kids grow up is especially challenging when they\u2019re going through their...","_seopress_robots_index":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[642],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-70973","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-moral-story"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/legendstitch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Watching-Our-Kids-Grow-Up-Is-So-Bittersweet.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/legendstitch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70973","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/legendstitch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/legendstitch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legendstitch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legendstitch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70973"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/legendstitch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70973\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legendstitch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/legendstitch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legendstitch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legendstitch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}</p></span></p></span></h4></span></p></span></p></span></p></span></p></span></p></span></h4></span></p></span></p></span></h4></span></p></span></p></span></p></span></p></span></p></span></h4>