Good thread idea.
Mostly you grow with them and adjust as a parent as they age.
I love children (was a nanny before I was a mum) but quite honestly I HATE primary school age, they're just annoying at that point and fart jokes are just not that funny. My favourite stages are baby/toddler and teens on.
Teens into adulthood you can have much more in depth and satisfying conversations with them, there's a lot more you can share with them both physical activities and things like more mature films & tv, you really start to see their personalities becoming stronger. Very exciting.
However, it's also bloody heartbreaking. Skint knees, nightmares and toothache are much easier to deal with than friendship dilemmas, broken hearts and career decisions! Dds boyfriend, her first "serious" one has just joined the police and is away doing his initial training and she's missing him like crazy and there's NOTHING I can do to make her feel better. She's also worried about him BEING a police officer which I totally understand (brother is also police) but again I can't stop her worries.
She also has a disability, it's not too bad at the moment (we seem to be managing it well at this point) but there are potential future issues with pregnancy and childbirth and ageing that could mean she ends up in more pain or incapacitated or worse. So it's hard to worry about that.
I've raised her alone since she was almost 3, her dad is useless! That's caused heartbreak too (and now I can't even have a word with him when he lets her down as she doesn't want me too plus he's blocked me!) that's not been easy but it means we do have a lovely close relationship due to that shared experience, wee "in jokes" and phrases and verbal shorthand and references to events that are just ours. Even films and music that are "ours".
I'm now in that difficult phase of adjusting to stepping back and letting her be an adult, not easy.
I used to think my mum was daft saying she still worries about us 3 and we're all in our 40's now, but I'm starting to "get it" from her perspective. Bro would fret anyone! Not only the police side but he's also somethings of an adrenaline junkie liking bungee jumping and cave diving etc and loves zooming about on his motorbike! My sister (who admittedly I'm Nc with) is a single mum with 3 DC who is constantly getting herself into dodgy situations, often needing bailed out financially or with basic life functions, I'm seriously mentally ill and also have a physical disability as a result of a car accident, it affects my spine and could worsen with age and I know she worries how I'll cope as I age.
"Skittlenommer I can't understand why you would even open this thread let alone comment on it if you aren't a parent of a grown up. Given that's what the OP was asking about" exactly - very strange way to behave!
.”"The lady doth protest too much, methinks” & all that!)." Yep! I have child free by choice family and friends and "mn friends" and they don't go on about how awful it is to be a parent, I suspect because they're perfectly confident and happy in their choice.