Despite the fears and concerns of anxious parents, their graduating seniors are actually well prepared for their next journey in life and deserve the credit, acknowledgment and freedom to head out on this next journey, free to make mistakes.
Graduation season is upon us once again.
I am going to share something with you parents of young people out there and you may not believe what I’m about to write or accept it right away but your children who are graduating this year are very much ready for the next chapter of their lives, and can tackle it alone.
As a seasoned mom who has seen her own children go through commencement of high school, college and the school of life, I am aware of the feelings of unsurety that you may be expriencing because I have been where a lot of modern parents are today.
You are proud of your children’s accomplishments and relieved they survived four or more years of stress, courses, exams, internships and more that comes with schooling.
I will not mention how happy you may feel that your young one thrived and surmounted the temptation to engage in vices, and all the other reckless activity young people partake in, though I know half of you you probably would prefer to not even know about what likely went down when your back was turned.
And now you are on to the next stage of worry.
You may wonder if they are ready for college or the work or entrepreneur world, depending on their next path.
You will likely fret over the coming seasons of not being able to see, connect with, guide, talk to or just be with your offspring during their semesters at school or as they head off to get their first apartment and flee your nest.
Believe me, I have been there.
I recall very vividly experiencing the anxiety of worrying about whether my kids would make friends at school or work, if they would be brave enough to ask questions and seek further assistance or counsel when they need it and when I am not there to check in them.
I remember attempting to step in and micromanage the difficult times and being told by my son, “Mum, I got this.”
Graduation season for parents is a happy time with all the joys and glee of graduation party planning and such, but it is also a hard, uneasy and bittersweet time in your life as a parent.
It took me some time to realize that my husband and I had actually had done a pretty decent job at preparing our children for each chapter of their lives.
We managed to raise confident, civic-minded, community-focused, Faith-filled, conscientious and culturally-aware world citizens.
In these most fragile stages and this season of transition for your child, you may not recognize how well you have prepared them because you are going through it.
It was not long ago you were battling with them to get in paperwork in time, to properly reply and send thank you emails to instructors and coaches who wrote them letters or recommendations on their behalf.
Your ears may still be ringing from all the raised voices and slammed doors that are common in the heat of parenting battles.
The fact remains that they did in fact hear the lectures and the lessons.
In the wake of all the push back and the times you swore you were talking to a brick wall, you need to know that your guidance actually worked.
You should be proud of yourself for parenting hard. Parenting is hard.
You have to go through it and step back and witness from afar the wonderful people that your children are growing into.
To ease you into believing what you don’t want to admit, I invite you to take a look at your parenting mentors.
Observe how calm, confident, happy and content they appear to be.
That can be you!
In the meantime, send your children off with this message:
Tell them to be passionate in their pursuits.
Give them grace when they misstep.
Be patient….. but let them know they must be persistent in their pursuits..
Overall, believe that they deserve the dreams that were placed on their hearts and to know that they are WORTHY.
Tell them to not allow anyone or any circumstance to tell them differently or take them off course.
We got this. They got this.
Congratulations!
