Growing up, I was always frustrated by my mom always worrying about me. Now that I’m thirty and living on a whole other continent, I get where they are coming from. While I don’t have kids of my own, I totally get why my parents constantly worry about my safety and wellbeing, and I appreciate their concern.
My father was right when he said that a parent’s job is never done no matter how old your child gets – they will always be your baby. As one recent study has shown, it’s quite natural for parents of adult children to continue to worry about them just as much as they would if they were still kids. Accordin to the HUFFPOST, the study looked at 186 married heterosexual couples who were in their late 50s and had an average of 2-3 children. In the study, researchers asked parents a series of questions to figure out what kind of support – emotional, financial, etc., – they provide their kids, and how much. And the results were quite interesting.
It seems that the support varies, but there is one thing that seems to be consistent – our parents are constantly worrying about us regardless of our age. Even when we’re adults, our parents will still worry about us. In fact, the majority of the parents interviewed admitted that they still lose sleep worrying about their kids.
Beyond worrying, many parents are still willing to provide financial support to their adult children when needed.
So, it would seem that no matter how old we get, we will never be able to escape our parents’ concern over our wellbeing. Personally, this study just makes me appreciate my parents even more and want to give them a hug.
Are you a parent of an adult kid? Do you worry about them often and still provide support? Let us know!