However, his relationship must shift from his parents to God. Becoming spiritually mature, he will become accountable to God based on the standard set forth in the Word of God. He then becomes accountable to his fellow believers in that church. So the task of the parents is to bring the child from total dependence on themselves to total dependence upon God with an appropriate interdependence in a civilized society. What makes this interesting and challenging is that the parent is met with continual resistance.
Dependence is an easy, soft kind of life.
Independence is rough. Some parents do not properly mature. They seem incapable of accepting their grown children as peers and continue to meddle in their lives. These pathetic parents suffer from arrested maturity. If you have been incapable of raising your children during the first 18 years, it is unlikely with decreasing energy that you will have any notable achievements in the next 18.