Adult Children

Some of us moms have a problem with our attachment to our children, to the point where the bond can become unhealthy. Can we love our children but not let their choices or behavior make us crazy? Is some detachment actually a good idea?

You promised yourself it wouldn’t happen again. You’d stop answering those late-night calls. You’d quit sending money you don’t have. You’d stop fixing problems that aren’t yours to fix. But then, the voice on the other end trembles – your adult child’s, or maybe your ex’s…

For years, you were the one who made everything better. You found the missing shoes, calmed the tantrums, juggled the bills, and made sure everyone had what they needed. You were the glue. The heartbeat. The fixer. But now your children are grown…

I was 60 when I realized the words I used with my son weren’t mine. They were my mother’s. And before that, my grandmother’s. Three generations saying “stop crying” when feelings got big. Three generations of kids learning emotions weren’t safe. I’d spent 40 years as a healthcare…

If we haven’t already, we need to make sure we’ve had “the talk” with our children by the time we reach retirement. This does not refer to the infamous sex talk we have with our children during their pre-teen stage, but about our end-of-life…

By the time we reached our 50s and 60s, most of us thought the hardest years of parenting were behind us. The toddler tantrums, the teenage battles, the sleepless nights – we survived them all. We figured the hard part was done. We thought we had “earned” the rest. But then adulthood…

Most women over 60 I talk to love their children deeply and want the best for them. That often means offering help, sometimes financial help, when they’re struggling. After all, what mother doesn’t want her child to feel secure? But what happens when the giving…

When I held my first newborn, I whispered, “All I want is for you to be happy.” It felt like the most generous wish I could make – no demands about who he should become, no rigid life plan to follow. Just happiness. Decades later, I realized that was a much bigger expectation…

Let’s just say it: This isn’t how you thought it would be. You didn’t imagine your child avoiding your calls. You didn’t picture a strained holiday dinner, or worse, an empty seat. You didn’t expect silence, tension, or unspoken resentments. And yet – here you are…

In this blog series, we’ve covered many ways to help adult children financially, including education, childcare, housing, and retirement. In this final post of the series, we’ll cover some other areas that can also be used to help: investment accounts, life insurance and annuities, real estate…