parenting magoes

My lovely friends Karlos and Mich in dublin have created the most adorable baby boy, Mango 1 who at 18 months is still a stripey little bundle of perfection. And the best news I had last week is that Mango 2 is on the way ... and she'll (my guess) be here in 4 months.

And I just LOVE that Karlos is making this family and its all his and its growing and its a unit of love and support and its just, to me, such a lovely thing .... the creation of a FAMILY!!

So Karlos wrote and asked if parents ever stop parenting??

My reply is:

PS Parents do NOT ever stop parenting - I have been sitting through different versions of the spiel for a few years now ... They usually start off "when I was your age ..." and continue with some varion of " I had my own, job, house, wife/husband/children, car ... LIFE" ... With the direct inference " so - what is WRONG WITH YOU??"

But its more than that ... I think what they find hardest to deal with is the EMOTIONAL dependence we still have on our parents - beyond the early 20's and into the late 20's and after that even - still looking to them for their confirmation, affirmation etc etc ... My mum is defintiely still mummying us!! And I keep assuring her that I don’t intend for that to change - EVER. I cannot imagine a time when I wont need the support/rerobation/help/deep invasive interest that their love brings to my life ... I may criticise it - but those are the markers I use to measure my place on the map of moving forward I guess. And it’s a relationship that changes but the basic tenets are there - and ive accepted, they probably always will be.