If you're having difficulty letting go and are drawing the process out over time, acknowledging boundaries and reassessing your relationship can help you cope with the new lines laid out for you. When children leave home to live on their own, letting them go can be especially hard. Many experts and parents agree that creating closure for the end of your children's physical dependence on you can assist greatly in preparing you to cope with the change. Another is to hold a farewell ceremony at which friends and relatives can reflect on the childhood that is receding and look forward to the adulthood on the horizon. Whatever you choose to do, creating closure makes your transition to being the parent of an adult much easier to handle.
Boundaries strengthen relationships by delineating roles and responsibilities.
Paradoxical as it may seem, the lines drawn between you and your adult children can preserve your role in their lives. Self-assessment is another helpful factor in coping. Stepping back and asking yourself why letting go of your adult children is difficult can shed a great deal of light on the situation. Many parents have tied interaction with their children so intimately to their own happiness, they see the physical distance of those children almost like a death. Parents who report their happiness in marriage is based on their children are more likely to report low levels of marital satisfaction, according to recent research.