Introducing Parent of Adults

A newsletter about life after the kids move out by the author of PARENT HACKS

Mirabai and me in the California coastal redwoods

Thank you for meeting me on the ground floor of this not-yet-built place! Funny how I think of this newsletter as a place we’re meeting rather than a thing I’m doing. That’s how this first issue feels — like a welcome into a new place for both of us.

*motions you inside, pours coffee*

There’s a reason I titled this newsletter Parent of Adults and not Parenting Adults. It’s not that we stop parenting once our kids move out. But after much flailing and confusion, I came to realize that what I can best offer you — what I most need myself — isn’t parenting advice. It’s company. Stories. Conversations about this family juncture.

Like, “this happened, and huh, it made me think that which kind of helped. What about you?”

Or, “I didn’t expect this to happen. Am I the only one?”

Or, “This made me chuckle and I got to put down the burdens of the world for a moment. Maybe you, too?”

(This is pretty much the same impulse that prompted me to start the P…