Upon moving away for school across the country in first year and becoming immersed in an incredible community within my faculty, I’ve found amazing life-long friends and connected on such a deep level with people I've met in university.Overtime, though,I’ve realized that I’ve begun to drift apart from my parents.
Is it normal to feel that many times I relate more to people my age compared to them now? Like when I came home over winter break, it was nice to relax, but it definitely felt really different. I just get so confused about this because I never know if I'm ever truly an "adult" around them or if age truly is just a number and I’m always going to be a child through my parents’ eyes.
Signed,
Parent Problems
Dear Parent Problems,
During adolescence, it is completely normal—I’m no doctor, but I’d venture to say it’s even healthy—to relate more to people your own age than to your parents, and I think many students would say they feel the same way. While family will always have a special place in our hearts, day-to-day conversation will naturally come easier with people at the same stages of life as us because they’re going through the same things we are.
As you mature and grow into your own individualistic lifestyle, your parents should see you more and more as an adult capable of making your own decisions. That being said, while you won’t always be achild, you will always be their child. Their need to guide, motivate, and protect you may never fully go away. Don’t try to shake it too much—their love and protection is something you’ll be thanking your lucky stars for 10 years from now.
All the best,
Audrey Helpburn
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