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Parenthood is the great enigma.
We devote ourselves to the noble cause of rearing a child that will, hopefully,
make a difference in the world.
And in so doing, to be sure,
there is sacrifice and worry and pain,
but incredible joy as well.
And our work as parents indeed the most important work will ever undertake,
if it's done correctly,
is preparing this young person to leave us.
How difficult is that?
Well, it is a very difficult thing to reconcile, but it's a necessary step in
completing our work as parents, to let them go and move on with their own lives.
For many families and parents especially,
the child's departure from home to college, while difficult, is a vital
experience in the childs necessary evolution to adulthood and the duties,
obligations, and responsibilities which lay beyond family's home and are
manifest in the role of citizenship.
It's a whole new world for student
and you're not going to be part of it everyday;
as you have been for the last seventeen or eighteen years.
There are new responsibilities to experience, new friends to make,
new boundaries to discover, and test. Mistakes will be made.
Consequences will be experienced. Lessons will be learned.
This is a time of great discovery,
angst, doubt, exploration, and victory.
They will survive.
Trust them to make the right decisions and hold them accountable when they
don't.
Just as you did when they lived in their home.