Advice On Getting Along With Your Adult Children
Phyllis Greene, co-author of “Designated Daughter: The Bonus Years With Mom” shares her thoughts on getting along with adult children.
Commitment: How did you manage to create such a loving bond with your daughter? What advice do you have for mothers who dream of someday having daughters who are so devoted and like your daughter, actually enjoy their mother's company?
Phyllis Greene: Dr. Benjamin Spock’s Baby and Child Care was published in 1946 and my first child had just been born. Dr. Spock immediately became the guru of the “greatest generation” mothers ; his message and my idea of parenting were a perfect fit.
Treat your children with as much respect as you would a guest in your home, he advised.
The times were many when I broke the rules, as did the children/guests. But, at heart (which is where such rules abide) I believed and believe still that from understanding and acceptance and even politeness come a loving and abiding relationship: a designated daughter and her mother who define these as bonus years, who never forget to say “thank you” for coming, thanks for the gift of yourself , thanks for staying with me.
Phyllis Greene became a first-time author , at the age of eighty-two, with It Must Have Been Moonglow: Reflections on the First Years of Widowhood. She is the mother of three, the grandmother of eight, and the great grandmother of two children. Fulford and Greene live in Columbus, Ohio.
D.G. Fulford is the bestselling author of several books, including Designated Daughter: The Bonus Years With Mom, written with her mother, Phyllis Greene, and the classic To Our Children’s Children : Preserving Family Histories For Generations To Come, written with her brother, Bob Greene. She is cofounder of TheRememberingSite which makes it easy for anyone to write, archive, share and publish their life story.
To purchase Designated Daughter: The Bonus Years With Mom click here.
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