Taking the Long View
Last week I had the chance to visit with a long-time friend. As we talked about what we’d been doing lately, she told me about her family’s recent annual vacation to the beach with her adult children, husband, parents, and sister. As she described what they did that week, I asked her whether they liked to cook or eat out. “We usually do a little of both, but this time, we did more eating out than usual. My son has become a foodie of sorts," she smiled, "and he brought a whole list of restaurants he wanted to try. So my husband and I ended up going to many of them with him.” As she talked about their time with their son, she paused. “You know, he hasn’t joined us on our vacation the past few summers, so we were really glad he wanted to come. And I was just struck by –and so grateful to see—how respectful he was . . . how honoring. We just had a wonderful time together.” Through our conversations over many years, my friend has shared that parenting this chi