Motherhood

Part 5 | The Nuances of Parenting Adult Children

Hosted by Sharon Sands with Special Guest Joni Leahy

IN THIS EPISODE

• Joni shares a snapshot of her family’s story | 1:38
• Why it’s important to be real with your kids | 5:00
• Do you want to be right or do you want to be in relationship? | 7:00
• Mother-in-lawing | 14:25
• Married for the long haul | 25:25
• Ask your kids how you can pray for them | 30:00
• You own Mother’s Day | 34:10

INSTANT TAKEAWAYS

1 | Do you want to be right or do you want to be in relationship?

After spending decades teaching our kids what we think is right, it’s hard to adjust to parenting adults whom we have very little control over. There are times we need to choose being in a relationship with our kids over being right. It’ll allow us to come to our children like God comes to us, with open hearts and open arms.

2 | Being honest and real about our story will help our kids

When we are honest with our kids about our own story, they are more likely to trust us and learn from our mistakes in a more authentic, valuable way.

3 | How to adapt positively to our changing role

It can be tricky to navigate our changing role as moms of adult kids. We can grieve the change in our role while still celebrating our children’s growth to independence, marriage or parenthood. An important part of letting our kids grow up is to learn how to respect our kids’ boundaries and encourage them to live their own life and learn their own lessons.

SHOW NOTES

Join us for another episode in our Motherhood Series, where Mission Hills member Joni Leahy shares openly about the unique challenges of parenting adult children. We’ll explore how our role changes throughout the different stages, from becoming an empty nester to mothering adult children and grandchildren.