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Whether your children have just left home, keep coming back, or have been gone for years, we want to help you thrive in what can often be one of parenting’s most challenging seasons. We address the most common myths, challenges, and fears of this rarely discussed topic and turn them into hope, purpose, and opportunity. Most importantly, you will learn how to leave a legacy of love to the next generation.
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 Many of you are in the midst of taking your teens to college or watching them move on to a new stage of life. You have anticipated this day for many years, sometimes dreading it and other times impatiently waiting for it to arrive. Launching your child brings a mixture of emotions and takes you to places you have never been.
I’d like to share a few thoughts with you because this is an important moment for you and your child. You want to do this well because it will set the tone for the next several years:
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 Vacations are tricky things when it comes to parents and their adult children. Parents often have expectations about what their adult children’s vacations should look like and the children don’t quite know how to address it with the parents. Too often, they will make up an excuse or create a diversion from the truth in order to avoid confronting the issue before them.
The hard truth in this situation is that young adults look at vacation time differently than their parents. As a result, parents get their feelings hurt and take everything personally, which in most cases, is absolutely not the case.
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 Many parents of adult children think their job is over when the kids leave for college, move out on their own, or head off to the military. They believe they are getting their life back after all these years and are relieved a new chapter is beginning.
I appreciate the empty nest; Neil and I have enjoyed it for the last six years. They came home during the summer and the holidays while they were in college. Now they are moving on in their careers and time with them has changed. We have to work to be sure we make the time to be together as a family because we now have to coordinate four schedules, which is no simple task.
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 Too many times in my life I’ve heard parents complain about their child’s pending departure. “I can’t wait for them to get out and be on their own” would be the lament I would most often hear. The parent, mostly moms, would go on to say they were tired of the stress and would welcome the peace that would return with their kids’ departure.
I realize most seniors in high school are antsy and anxious to set off on their own path. Typically the summer after graduation is filled with restlessness which impacts everyone living within 50 feet. Thus, it is natural for the tension to be higher and the longing for relief to come.
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One of the most challenging issues parents of adult children face relates to finances. It seems to be one of those subjects which can create broken relationships and resentment faster than any other dynamic. In the sad but true category, money once again undermines relationships, which most of us know, are the most significant element in the human condition.
In this newsletter, I want to address common patterns I have observed over the last 30 years. Economic conditions come and go, but parenting challenges have remained the same. For instance, in good times and bad, I have witnessed parents financially carrying their adult children. These adults could be healthy, capable, and bright, yet they seem to be unable to find their rightful place in the work world.
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