When Parenting Doesn't End at Eighteen: Loving Children Who Can't Seem to Launch
There was a time when I thought parenting had a finish line. Not because I believed I would stop loving my children, but because I assumed there would come a moment when the relationship would shift. I imagined that one day I'd trade school permission slips for holiday visits, emergency grocery runs for occasional phone calls, and endless financial support for the satisfaction of watching capable adults build lives of their own. Instead, I learned that adulthood has become less of a destination and more of a waiting room. My child isn't lazy. That's the easy story people like to tell because it fits neatly inside a social media comment. It's comforting to believe that every struggling young adult simply lacks discipline, ambition, or character. That explanation requires no empathy. It asks nothing of us except judgment. Reality, unfortunately, refuses to fit inside bumper-sticker wisdom. My child isn't working. My child isn't studying. And before you congratulat...
