I was privilege to be in the midst of some young adult 16-18years. One of them who just turned 18 was telling us how she spent her 18th birthday. She had spent 2 weeks in a Five Star Hotel in United State; she had gone with her parents, two of her friends and her two brothers. She told us all the fun she had and showed us photos.
After she finished, she said to me, Dumebi! I said what? I am an adult now, I replied, yes you are, congratulations! Thank you, she replied! Then she smiled and said, I want to leave home! I pretended like I didn’t hear her, I asked her to repeat what she said earlier; then she goes again, I want to leave home, and I said why? she said “I want to start taking responsibities for myself , I want to learn people management, I have never lived with people, I just want to be all by myself, I listened to her intently, by the time she was done telling me all her reasons, I asked, have you told your parent? Yes she replied.
Then, I questioned further, what was their response? With a charming smile on her face, she responded, my Dad does not have issues with it but my mum is concerned and don’t want me to leave. I was inquisitive why the mom doesn’t want her to leave the house and asked her again, it became more interesting when she said her mom would miss her so much, being the only girl. I chuckled and said, like you rightly said you are an adult now, the decision is entirely up to you, I believe you would make the right decision for yourself.
My point is, I have heard many parents saying, I can’t wait for my child to sit, crawl, walk, get through school and all, trust me, they won’t be with you forever, (they’re not yours anyways ) you’ve got to cherish every moment with them because once they are gone, you can’t bring them back; Do all you can to create good memories and values that will last and also, trust them to take good decisions for themselves when they become adult.