I want to shine some "lyte" on rites of passage. Our modern society is bereft of rites of passage. There just aren't that many activities that adults do that young people do not have access to. The lines between childhood and adulthood have become increasingly blurred.
Is that a good thing? I am not sure. Children are becoming jaded, miniature adults, complete with their cell phones. Teenagers set the bar for what's hot and what's not. I think part of the appeal of the show "Mad Men" is that back then, it was cool to be an adult. Age was admired, and the rights and responsibilities of adults were significantly different from children.
But now it is all about the young. You aren't even allowed to look your age. I am as guilty as the next, I still shop primarily in the junior section, not misses. But I draw the line at Botox or Juviderm, or other artificial means of rejuvenation. I have my standards.
Back to rites of passage. One rite is still going strong here in the good, ole USA. You still have wait until you're sixteen (and in some states, eighteen) to drive. Both of my kids got their permits over the last weekends, and it suddenly hit home that they are growing up......and away.
I have said it before, parenting is one long goodbye. But the day you stop carting your kids around is the one of hardest goodbyes of all. Not only are you facing the undeniable fact that you are becoming largely superfluous in your children's lives, but that they now have the means and the desire to go out into the world without you.
And it is a scary world.
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