They say parenting gets easier the older your kid gets
By Sissy15
@sissy15 (12446)
United States
May 11, 2025 7:33pm CST
They say parenting gets easier as your kids get older. In the sense that there is less to do for them, this has been mostly true for me. Emotionally I can't say it has been easier. Watching your child grow up is so bittersweet. It isn't easy watching as your baby boy grows up and away from you. It's healthy and they need to grow up and away a little. I'm not saying that my child never wants me nearby or that he doesn't want to spend time with me because he does but it's different now.
I think watching my son grow up has been one of the hardest things I've had to do in my entire life. I want him to grow up. I want him to become whoever it is he is meant to become in this world but letting go is so difficult. It hurts knowing I have to let him out into a world where I can't protect him but that's the way it has to be. I'm so proud of the person he is becoming. He's kind, funny, sweet, smart, polite, quick-witted, and empathetic. He's one of the best people I know. I know I can trust him. I love him for who he is but knowing I have to shove him into this world and watch him stumble and figure things out is difficult. I have had to let go day by day and let him take on the world little by little so it isn't just forced on him all at once. I've had to give him his independence and pray for his safety. I no longer get to be beside him all the time making sure he makes good choices because that's up to him now. He has to take all of the things I've taught him and maybe some of the ones I didn't and use them to make his way in the world.
Enjoy your littles while you can because before you know it you're in a world of bigs. You're watching as your child outgrows a lot of the things they once loved. You're watching as they make and lose friends. You're watching their entire lives change little by little and sometimes you just aren't ready but that doesn't mean they aren't. You just hope that you've prepared them the best you can. It's difficult letting go. Yes, he's more self-sufficient. Yes, he's easier to talk to and reason with now but it's harder to let go than most can even imagine. I'd go back and do it all again for just a few more minutes with my sweet little boy. I'd hold him longer. I'd kiss his chubby cheeks and hold his little hand and reassure myself that it's all going to be okay because it is going to be okay. It's just difficult letting go. Looking at his much more manly face and seeing that little boy face staring back at me. He hates when I tell him he'll always be my baby but he will. I know he's growing up but I'll always have moments where I see his sweet baby boy face staring back at me.
Yesterday I dropped him off for his first day of preschool where he screamed and reached for me and I had to leave as it felt like my heart was being ripped out as I heard his cries for me and today I woke up to a teenager who is taking on the world day by day without me. I know this is how it has to be and I accept it but boy is it difficult. When people ask if it gets easier when they get bigger this is what I say. It gets easier physically but not emotionally. Emotionally I will always miss being able to hold him and keep him safe from the world. It's not that the teen years aren't full of good moments because they are they are just different. It's just that you realize how close they're getting to being adults and as a mom, we sometimes struggle to let go because we just want to be able to keep them safe for as long as possible but we also have to let them grow up and that's why it's so difficult.
5 people like this
3 responses
@celticeagle (176810)
• Boise, Idaho
12 May
Yes, indeed. Kids grow up so fast. I always tell people, "Take plenty of pictures". I think that parentling a child is a tough gig. We can't really be their friend. We have to parent instead. It's tough, but it's a very wonderful thing and one we can be very proud of later. A good parent is worth their weight in gold.
2 people like this
@celticeagle (176810)
• Boise, Idaho
18 May
@sissy15 .......Make it fun, maybe, and they will want to have it done more.
1 person likes this
@sissy15 (12446)
• United States
18 May
@celticeagle He just hates how he looks so he'll never have fun with it. He does it to humor me but I always tell him he'll appreciate it more later.
1 person likes this

@rsa101 (39022)
• Philippines
12 May
I believe what you're going through is very similar to what my wife is currently experiencing with our son. She's feeling a growing sense of detachment from him, and I think this is something many mothers face—perhaps it's part of the deep emotional bond they naturally have with their children.
From my perspective as a father, it led me to reflect on my own journey with my mother—how close we were when I was a child, and how that relationship inevitably changed as I grew older. It's a difficult truth, but as boys grow into men, the nature of their bond with their mothers often shifts.
We're raised, consciously or not, with the understanding that one day we'll have to step into our own lives, build our own families, and form new bonds that will take priority. And when that time comes, there’s often a quiet and painful parting—not out of rejection or lack of love, but as a natural progression of life.
It’s a bittersweet process. While it speaks of growth and new beginnings, it also marks the gradual fading of a relationship that was once everything to us. Still, I believe that bond, though changed, never truly disappears. It simply evolves.
1 person likes this
@sissy15 (12446)
• United States
18 May
I agree with you. It's something I always knew would happen but that said my son and I are still close but the relationship is different and that's how it's meant to be and as you said it's bittersweet. I love seeing him grow and change but I also long for those days when I was his whole world. It would be a disservice for him if I didn't let him grow and evolve though. This is part of life and I just want to see him happy but that doesn't mean I'm not a little sad knowing our relationship will never be what it once was. I've accepted that this is who he is and that this is how things have to be but yes I'm a little sad about it but also so proud of him.
1 person likes this
@sissy15 (12446)
• United States
18 May
@rsa101 It is different for mothers because mothers have a bond with their children that fathers often don't have. We have an understanding but emotions and understanding often counteract each other at times. Both of my parents seemed to struggle with us getting older. My dad still likes to bring up memories from when we were kids. My dad wasn't supposed to be able to have children and when he had us he really enjoyed us being little. I can still tell he misses us being little. My dad raised us while my mom was at work because my dad had some medical issues that made it so he couldn't work. He lost his job when I was a baby and with all of the medical stuff he had going on he was never able to find another job. I think him being home with us made it so he was able to create a stronger bond with us.
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