The best thing about growing up is the fact that you have more freedom and independence. There is usually an increase in the amount of time that you can be you on your own with friends or even just by yourself. It is a time of discovery and exploration. The moment you walk out the door to only one in control is you.

As an older sibling, close relative, parent, or grandparent this is probably the most difficult time to learn when to let go and when to stand strong. The reality is that you can‘t stop them from going out the door or they many one day go and never return. As life will usually always provide an edge that cuts both ways. You can’t let them go out that door without telling them the truth or they may never return.

One of the most difficult things about growing up is learning to make good choices on your own. You are out there free of the judgment and free of the guilt the only one to say go left or go right. Many outside influences with their own agendas giving you advice. Now you must be responsible for your own actions with out an older sibling, close relative, parent, or grandparent to protect you or take responsibility when things go wrong.

Seeing the younger members of your family growing up can be an exciting and rewarding time as they make great achievement of maturity and independence. It can be some what self rewarding to see your own reflection in them as you reflect on your own early life achievements. It is an awesome feeling to see them transcend the gap of dependence and find their way in life. Seeing them make good choice not because you told them what was right, but because they knew what was right for them and what was best to achieve their personal dreams.

It can be a little scary when you are out there on your own, but it can also be some of the best times of your life. You will see and discover a reality not as it is on television, but as it is in the flesh. As your world expands so do the possibilities of life and death. If you have never stood on the Great Wall of China how would you real know it was a great wall. If you have never seen the breath taking view from the top of the Eiffel Tower how you would know if seeing such a view would take your breath away. If you have never been to the Grand Canyon how you would know what sitting at its edge must feel like.

When you look at them they always seem younger than they are, because your love wants to protect their innocents and preserve the joy that lives in their heart. You want to shelter them from the bad choices you made and guide them to opportunity that was never possible for you. Your heart shields them from danger as though the pain they feel is your own. You wish that you could be there in the background at every moment ready to catch them as they fall from any unseen bad decisions they might make or even better prevent it from happening all together.

Having a dream and seeing it come true is a reward bigger than anyone can imagine, because it automatically accounts for what is best for your mental, physical, and spiritual health. With out this solid foundation how do you know that your dream is true? All element of what we know can only be a product referenced from something we already knew.

When you speak of something new that you have never discussed before it is natural to use words, terms, and, references to things that are already known, helping to create a defining reference. Without a reference point for the choices you make and directions you chose you are stepping blindly into your future. If you fail you create an adequate buffer between the choices you make and the future you run the risk of life inconveniently changing the options you have. In one moment when there seems to be plenty in the next there could be none.

The key is to balance your life within a boundary of reason. You should always know where to return to when life takes its own turn. If you are unclear of who your and what is needed to maintain your integrity a small challenge many become a crisis and you may become lost to a pattern of life that is hard to balance.

It is hard to see the ones you love struggle in life especial when all that is in your power can not save them. When they walk out that door you also need to understand that they should be accountable for their decision and not shield them from the discovery of who they independently are. Ultimately life is the lesson and we can only hope at the point of choice that it is one that will take them closer to their dreams without sacrifice of their mental, physical, and spiritual health.