PenPenWrites
parenting blog, memoir notes, family punchlines & more
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© Penelope Lemov and Parenting Grown Children, 2025. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given.
recent posts
© Penelope Lemov and Parenting Grown Children, 2025. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given.
Category: criticizing grown children
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This two-word bit of advice is a reminder that we walk around on eggshells when it comes to doling out advice to our grown children. Writing in Grand Magazine, Karen L. Rancourt zeroes in on grandparents and the urge to let our grown children (who are now parents themselves) know that there's a better, best…
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Our kids are having kids. We have grandkids! Such good news. But what happens when we believe our children are taking a wrong tack in parenting those children? We know–or, if we've read any advice columns on the topic, should know–that the answer is, we keep our mouths shut. There are two important caveats to…
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He may not have been writing about parents butting in on their grown children's housekeeping or spending habits or the way they parent their newborns, but Bob Dylan was of the minute on the basic concept: Come mothers and fathers Throughout the landAnd don’t criticize what you can’t understandYour sons and your daughters Are beyond…
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We may not like the way our adult kids dress or tat their arms or use foul language. We may want them to change the way they cut their hair or, for their health's sake, lose weight! But "fixing" adult kids is a ship that has sailed. They are who and what they are–much as…
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The Holidays are upon us. May there be peace and joy in our lives and in family get-togethers. But just in case, here's a column I wrote a few months ago about the behavioral stresses at play when our adult children are in our company for extended periods of time. May we all relax and…
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The holidays are coming. Maybe you've been distracted by the disastrous hurricanes or the sudden outbreak of winter weather. But Thanksgiving is not that far away. That dinner often sits on the back burner because, unlike multi-generational family get-togethers around Christmas, it's supposedly free of stress and anxiety. Don't you believe it! Thanksgiving may not…
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Best if we had started when our kids were teens but it's never too late to remember that we have moved from being the boss of them to being consultants to our grown children–even as it's hard to act on that in the heat of a "moment." This is what Amy Joyce wrote about in…
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Are our adult children too tough about what their children can and cannot eat or drink? It's especially annoying when we are guilt-tripped out of offering them our just-baked chocolate chip muffins or handing them a cold, individual box of apple juice. We have been asked not to provide such malnourishment. So we offer what's…
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A few weeks ago, I posted an observation from Meghan Leahy on the limits we should impose on ourselves. That is, we should not offer our adult children advice on parenting their children–unless they've asked us for it. In that post, a grandmother was concerned about the chaos of her grandchildren's bedtime. In this post,…
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