As school days make way for University days, we find ourselves as parents with a new routine in the next stage of our lifeline.
I’ve never been one to sentimentally wish that our children stopped advancing through to the next phases of their lives, far from it. We’ve always celebrated their milestones without too much nostalgia. In fact, I would go as far as to say that we were ready energetically for the end of the ‘school era’… and twenty-one consecutive years of private school fees.
Our young adults are now in their ‘salad days’, a time of inexperience and idealism, much activity and pleasure. And I hope they take full advantage of this time of wonderment because that is what youth is for: to take calculated risks, to make mistakes without judgment, dust yourself off and learn from them.
For us to think that our parenting days are over at this juncture would be folly. As they venture out into the world, they still need support and guidance around drugs, alcohol, peer group pressure, integrity, and acceptable conduct, with the conversation expanding to a deeper, grittier level than in previous years.
We pull no punches as parents and give examples from our own youths. Everything is on the table, from the moral obligation of ‘consent’ and the new legislation surrounding it to the piousness of denial and bearing false witness. We discuss the absolute need for empathy both on an individual level and across society, as well as our own successes, unresolved disappointments, and failures.
Harvey has chosen to pursue the same double degree at UQ as Kit, now in her third year of Law and Arts Humanities. So, spare a thought for poor David and me as we sit around the nightly dining table in this age of ‘woke’ culture because we apparently know nothing…
