To M-----

At what age do parents stop treating their children as children and start treating them as adults? I don't think the perception of the parent ever changes. The kid---no matter what age---will always be the parent's baby. At a young age, that actually benefits the child, but I think that a parent should change to be more like a friend when the child becomes an adult. No more "look both ways before you cross the street" type of daily advice. Just speak normally. Cut the "parent talk." Be a human being and let me know what is on your mind. Don't sit there and measure every word before you speak it---concerned because I might be negatively influenced by the language you use. Say it. It's okay. Say "fuck" or "shit" and let rip on "those damn bastards who cut me off when I was driving home"! Just be natural, but most of all, be yourself. I'm no longer a child. I am the adult you raised me to be. Remember? I never touched illicit drugs, never scarred my body with any of those nasty tattoos, never smoked or drank like an addict, never hung out with the wrong crowd---and if I did, they quickly became "ex-friends." So why do you still speak to me like I'm still a kid? Do you think I haven't learned all the lessons you taught me? I have. Now I just want you to talk to me on the same level. I don't know. Perhaps you don't want to admit to the passage of time. You're older now and I'm older. Our roles in life are quickly reversing and, someday, I will have to take care of you, when you become frail and helpless, like a newborn baby. But don't worry, I'll be there for you just like you were there for me all those years. We're family, after all. And I love you.

~Andrew K.