They may worry about how to answer their child's questions and what kind of values, knowledge and skills they want their child to have. The Independent Stage is very similar to the Authority Stage but covers the child's teenage years. Parents have the same questions about rules, strictness and permissiveness, but now need different answers. As their child grows to adulthood, parents also need to start forming a different kind of relationship with their child. This is a stage of evaluation and, often, loss for the parents.
Parents judge how well they have done and how their image of their child fits the reality.
In addition, parents have to change their lives to let go of their child, to let their child become another adult. Cooperative Extension and other agencies of the U.S.D.A. provide equal opportunities in programs and employment. These pages are currently being maintained from the Communications Office, University of Maine Cooperative Extension.