[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"\u002Farticles\u002Fstill-in-the-woods-1":3,"\u002Farticles\u002Fstill-in-the-woods-1-surround":82},{"id":4,"title":5,"author":6,"bibleBooks":8,"body":10,"columnName":65,"date":66,"description":16,"extension":67,"image":68,"meta":69,"minRead":70,"navigation":71,"path":72,"postType":73,"publication":74,"publicationUrl":68,"seo":75,"stem":76,"topics":77,"__hash__":81},"blog\u002Farticles\u002Fstill-in-the-woods-1.md","Still in the Woods",{"name":7},"Dave Faust",[9],"",{"type":11,"value":12,"toc":62},"minimark",[13,17,20,23,26,34,37,40,47,50,53,56,59],[14,15,16],"p",{},"\"We're not out of the woods yet,\" I told my wife Candy when our son graduated from high school. She nodded in agreement. We still had two younger daughters to get through school.",[14,18,19],{},"Come to think of it, though, we have been \"in the woods\" ever since we started down the path of parenthood.",[14,21,22],{},"During our kids' preschool stage, I'd see the stress written on Candy's face when I arrived home from work. Older women encouraged her to hang in there. \"It's hard when they're in diapers, Honey,\" they'd say. \"Just hold on. Before you know it they'll be in school.\"",[14,24,25],{},"And they were right. Soon we were helping our kids with homework, meeting their teachers, going to PTA meetings and Little League games. Mostly the elementary school years were happy ones, but our family endured sibling rivalries and friendly fights, angry days and tearful nights. We weren't out of the woods yet.",[14,27,28,29,33],{},"Then came high school and our son and daughters faced new challenges: dating, learning to drive, getting jobs, deciding about college, asking questions about their faith. We loved our teens and enjoyed them immensely, but we endured a lot of hard days too. Someone recommended we read James Dobson's ",[30,31,32],"em",{},"Preparing for Adolescence",". We did, and we were prepared for our teens to rebel, but I was surprised how much it hurt when they got angry with me, it seemed, just for being their dad.",[14,35,36],{},"It's tough when you're in the \"sandwich\" generation—when your parents are aging at the same time your children are coming of age. (Someone has said, \"The reason children and grandparents get along so well is because they have a common enemy.\")",[14,38,39],{},"It's hard to go from being a supervisor to being a spectator.",[14,41,42,43,46],{},"So Candy and I breathed a sigh of relief when our youngest daughter graduated from high school. All three of our children were now adults, old enough to vote, able to support themselves, independent enough that we wouldn't have to run their lives anymore. ",[30,44,45],{},"We got them through,"," I thought to myself.",[14,48,49],{},"And yet . . . we still weren't out of the woods.",[14,51,52],{},"Humorist Erma Bombeck pointed out that you go to graduation ceremonies as your kids' parents, and you come home as their contemporaries. She wrote, \"When mothers talk about the depression of the empty nest, they're not mourning the passing of all those wet towels on the floor, or the music that numbs your teeth, or even the bottle of capless shampoo dribbling down the shower drain. They're upset because they have gone from supervisor of a child's life to a spectator.\"",[14,54,55],{},"Candy and I don't supervise our kids' lives anymore. They're adults now, but we will always love them, always care what happens to them, always want the best for them.",[14,57,58],{},"My brothers and I are in our 50s but sometimes Mom and Dad still refer to us as their \"boys.\"",[14,60,61],{},"I guess when you're a parent you're never completely out of the woods.",{"title":9,"searchDepth":63,"depth":63,"links":64},2,[],"First Look","2006-03-19","md",null,{},3,true,"\u002Farticles\u002Fstill-in-the-woods-1","column","The Lookout",{"title":5,"description":16},"articles\u002Fstill-in-the-woods-1",[78,79,80],"Intergenerational Ministry","Spiritual Formation","Discipleship","Oa7Xxiu9ExDnH51WkP35MHo0kTv3ZA6lS3wTRXt8Qis",[83,86],{"title":5,"path":84,"stem":85,"description":16,"children":-1},"\u002Farticles\u002Fstill-in-the-woods","articles\u002Fstill-in-the-woods",{"title":87,"path":88,"stem":89,"description":90,"children":-1},"Stones for Supper","\u002Farticles\u002Fstones-for-supper","articles\u002Fstones-for-supper","\"Prayer,\" said Charles Spurgeon, \"is the slender nerve that moves the muscles of omnipotence.\""]