Parenting Points
Graduation is a moment where the triumph of completion and the challenge of transition collide. As a parent, you have spent many days wondering if this time would ever come for your senior. All the lectures about grades have paid off. All the teenage drama of high school begins to fade into distant memory. You and your child have made it! But with graduation comes a time of great transition for your family. Once the confetti has been thrown and the celebrations have ended, you realize that your senior will be transitioning to a new stage of life. Your role as your child’s parent will look different, yet your role is still crucial in the life of your graduate. How should you approach this new stage of parenting?
1. Release Your Recent Graduate to God and His Plan. Releasing is easier said than done. In releasing your recent graduate, you are allowing him or her to pursue the dreams that God has for them and to explore who the Holy Spirit is making them to be. They may not have the same visions and goals that you would have if you were designing their life, but you must trust that God is in control. God’s plan for your child is better than you could imagine.
2. Reach Out to Encourage and Support Your Graduate. Your recent graduate needs your support and encouragement more than ever. They are navigating a new place, new roles, and forming new relationships. Your relationship with them as a parent will be a source of stability. Understand encouragement and support may look different than you may desire so allow your recent graduate to set the pace.
3. Remember the God Who Is with You and Your Graduate. As you and your recent graduate go through this transition, you will never go alone. God is the one who goes before you both. As Moses encouraged Joshua when he faced a time of transition in Deuteronomy 31:6 ESV, “Be strong and courageous…for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will never leave you nor forsake you.” No matter the new path that you walk as a family, you will never walk alone.
-Dr. Ben Birdsong
Missions Minister at Christ Church Birmingham
Writer and Speaker
