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: emerging adulthood

  • Refilled Nests: Do we help or hinder our kids if they move home again.

    Okay. So Gen Z kids are living under the parental roof again and in greater numbers and percentages than our generation did at their age.  I wrote about that in my previous post. The reasons are mostly economic–housing costs are high; they're saving money for their future. The good news from a Pew Research survey…

  • Refilled Nests: Our adult kids are coming home to live with us again. What’s up?

    Our Gen Z kids are nestling into their old bedrooms, sleeping in our basements or otherwise making themselves at home in our homes. The post-college life is unfolding under the parental roof. It isn't just our kids here in the U.S. Parents in other first-world countries are finding their 20-somethings–and even  30s–reversing trends and coming…

  • Young Adults: What to know about the quarter-life crisis

    We've all heard about the midlife crisis and how, midway through our lives, we question ourselves about the road we've taken, whether this is all there is to life and other existential questions. It's a period of transition where we may struggle with our identity and self-confidence. This is old news. The new deal I'm…

  • Observation: Why it’s so hard to launch 20-somethings.

    In an interview with Laurence Steinberg, NPR reporter A Martinez asked the psychology professor about challenges we parents face in dealing with our 20-something adult children–children who should be more independent than they are or than we were at their age.  Here's Steinberg's observation. STEINBERG: Parents don't fully understand how hard it is to be…

  • Observation: On getting beyond the empty-nest blues.

    In an essay for the Washington Post's Parenting column (The graduation speech we should be giving to parents), author Mary Laura Philpott puts into perspective what lies ahead for soon-to-be empty nesters.  The exact circumstances have been different for all of us, but among my friends, we’ve experienced countless surprises after our kids reached legal…

  • Are We Still the Boss? Experts have their say on the wisdom of being advisors to our adult children

    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…

  • Parenting Young Adults: The realities and the risks of today’s “lifestyle stress”

    When my oldest granddaughter started college this year, I asked her the usual generic questions: What courses was she taking, which professors seemed dynamic, how was her dorm. I also asked her how she liked going to an all-girls college in a busy city. She ticked off her pros and cons but I was stunned…

  • Social Media Etiquette: Tips for staying in touch with the in-college grandkids

    Some of us have grandkids who are away at college. Naturally, we want to stay in touch. We may even expect that contact to be as close and regular as it was when they were youngsters living with their parents. And yet we may be disappointed that our in-college grandkids are a little more distant…

  • Observation: Philip Galanes on our role as parents.

    When our children were young we were on the frontlines: Hyper-vigilant when it came to keeping them safe and confrontational when we feared others posed a threat. Even as our children grow into young adults, we have our super-protective swords at the ready. But it's time to back off. At least that's what Philip Galanes…

  • Empty Nest: Letting Go of our college kids.

    Thanksgiving is almost upon us, and for some parents, that means more than turkey: The freshman they dropped off at college just a few months ago will be returning home for a few days. Probably for the first time since they left in September.  My experience with this happened years ago and yet I still…