When do parents graduate?

Question

when will parents feel satisfaction in graduating parenthood?
when will they feel that they have successfully fulfilled their roles as parents?

Answer 1

When they past away, your job is never done as a parent. You get a break when your kids go to college and get married and start their own families, but your still watching over your kids to make sure they make the right decisions until their live are complete. Parents still call you everyday even as an adult just to see what your doing and if your coming by.

Answer 2

This question put a smile on my face. My parents are mid to late forties, and there is my oldest sister who is 28 married with 2 small kids, then my middle sister is who engaged and my the youngest, who is a newlywed. We have all moved out from under our parents roof and are all happy. My parents love to see us come back and spend the weekends. They're always calling to check in to see how our day went or to lend an ear if need be. I know my parents will never be able to graduate although they know that they have done a wonderful job raising us.... they were young when they had my oldest sister and the odds were stacked against them... I don't think successful parents ever graduate, but with age they become more of a friend than a parent figure.

Answer 3

Parents graduate pretty much by the time their kid is 21 or 22 or 19 if they go into the armed forces. :) After that, they are grandparents-to-be. Some parents never feel that they have graduated and others refuse to allow their kids to graduate. So, you have all sides here!

Answer 4

I suppose when the kids are on their own and don't look to mom and dad for anything other than for moral support.
Or maybe its when we hear our children tell their children the exact same thing we told them. You know, the one they swore they would never say to their kids.
My 'kids' are close to forty, we have a great relationship, so I suppose I feel I have successfully fulfilled my role as a parent. Now...about my role as a grandparent.
It really, truly, never ends till your last breath.
And I don't know if I would want it to.

Answer 5

That will NEVER happen! No matter if you were 2 or 42, your parents will always try to guide you in what they think you should do, or give you advice on different daily life choices that you face. Parents never graduate from parenthood!!

Answer 6

When the kids:

1. Start listening to our advice (we've been there done that and see the consequences of your mistakes before you tweenagers realize you've made a mistake

2. Stop sponging off of us and stand on your own two feet

3. Realize that mom and/or dad actually do want whats best for you.

4. Realize that they are never more mature than their parents.

Answer 7

My son is only 7 months old & I know I will never graduate!! Even when he has a family of his own, I'll still be there to help out and continue to fufill my parental role.

Answer 8

To a lot of parents, once a parent always a parent is how they feel. Even when their children have become parents themselves the love, concern, and caring will always be there.

Answer 9

You NEVER stop being a parent until the day you die. It's not a role that magically disappears when your child turns 18!

Answer 10

Bit by bit, your parents let go and let you be you. But it never seems to completely happen, and when you least expect it the parental comment will be thrown at you. It still happens to me in my late 40s. Only when they get sick and you become the caregiver, then roles reverse.