Ahhhh,  the happy dreams of a young (or older) couple that decides to have children.  At first – as infants – they require round-the-clock care.  Mom and Dad look forward to the day when diapers and formula will no longer need to be purchased (it’s like getting a raise to one’s weekly paycheck each time one of these necessities is eliminated from the weekly grocery bill).  Someday, this wiggling, crying human will sleep through the night. What a day that will be!

One day, these kids will be able to walk, run, and play.  No more strollers!  No more pack-n-plays!  No more diaper bags stuffed to the gills with changes of clothing, snacks, and other assorted paraphernalia.  It no longer requires an hour to prep just to go somewhere as simple as a friend’s house, because there’s enough gear required to be loaded into the car and trunk to mount an expedition to the base of Mount Everest.  They can actually have something from a restaurant menu – and both parents can actually eat at the same time.  What a day that will be!

Someday, the toddlers will be off to kindergarten and elementary school.  We won’t have to worry about daycare (at least during the school year), so there’s some daily “downtime” for Mom or Dad to concentrate on home chores or their job.  There are pageants, musicals, plays, and sporting events to attend.  Our kids can tell us what they want, when they don’t feel well, and the reason they are happy or sad.  What a day that will be!

Time marches on, and the kids are in high school now.  We get to navigate driver’s licenses, teen angst, first loves, post graduation plans, and watching our sons and daughters turn into young men and women.  Look at them crossing that stage and getting their diploma.  What a day that will be!

The “kids” are adults now, starting their own lives.  There are financial lessons to be learned, apartments or houses to look at, jobs and careers to start, and spouses or partners to meet and vet (or learn to get along with).  Someday, we might even be grandparents.  What a day that will be!

I think about these things a lot, especially since I’ve just finished another college drop-off, which required an emergency jaunt of two days and twenty-four hours of driving (round trip) to make sure my youngest was back in time for spring classes (and the current state of the airline industry caused us to scrap her flight plans and go to “Plan B”).  As any parent will tell you – “it’s what we do”.

Does parenting ever end?  Does the guidance, advice, and direction offered to our kids ever stop?  The answer, of course, is “no”.  A parent will always offer to help.  Even if it is unheeded, a parent will always have an opinion or suggestion about a question or path, most based upon years of experience and making their own life decisions.  That’s called “wisdom”, and although it is often initially ignored, one day – yes – even your children will say, “wow, Mom and Dad knew what they were talking about” (even if it is never audibly uttered).  It happened to me.  It probably happened to you – and it will probably happen to your own kids (one day).  As I recall it, I thought I was the smartest person on the planet at eighteen.  Fortunately, I’ve been getting dumber, more humble, and more thankful ever since.  It’s amazing what almost forty years of mileage will do to an ego.

A mentor of mine once told me “a wise person learns from other people’s mistakes, an average person learns from their own mistakes, and the fool never learns.”  Sage advice.

As parents, we strive to help our kids follow the path of the “wise person”, hope that they at least learn as the “average person”, and cross our fingers and pray that they never (or rarely) play the fool.

That parenting role will never end.  It’s what we signed up for all those years ago – and even though there are trying days, it’s one of the most fulfilling and important jobs we’ll ever undertake.