Society has placed a set of expectations upon families that are twisted beyond recognition. First of all; No matter how many children that we have we still have our own lives. Giving every ounce of ourselves to someone else can only bring us unhappiness. Look at the animals. When the kids are raised- its over. Everyone goes on with their lives and builds new situations. In this culture we seem to be enslaved to the fact that we have to keep our kids safe, comforted, lacking for nothing until we or they are dead. Who writes this stuff ?????? I love my kids but they have their lives and Mom and I have ours. Its done !! Finally my other half has done something that she has always wanted to do and that was to finish her education. She has just received her PHD in parapsychology. Do you think that she would have ever come close to that if our kids were always around, patching their boo-boos, babysitting, and doing the very things that we had to do for them when they were young? If we did our job, which we did, then it is now their turn to do theirs. Even when our kids were young Mom and I still had our hobbies and set aside time for our own interests and that we did for for our own mental well being. To truly love ourselves and our family is to let them go when the job is done. That does not mean that we do not love them, it simply means that there is value and a whole other world within that needs to be lived.

Last edited by ancientflaxman; 03/26/09 05:54 AM.