A "Kid-Free Zone"

What if we could create a haven, a "place" in time--a Kid-Free Time Zone--in which we did not have to be, or feel responsible for, our adult children? What would be wrong if we tried to recreate those spaces of time that existed before the introduction of the cordless phone, before the advent of email, before the hostile takeover of the smart phone, before the invention of electricity and/or the telephone itself! What if we could declare sacred a time period in which our dependencies from and to our poorly adulting children could be suspended, in which we could feel free, if only temporarily, from the instantaneous demands (perceived as "needs") of our less-than-thriving children. What might that do for our own personal sanity?

     Taking care of oneself with some undisrupted "me-time" certainly couldn't be a bad thing. What if you had a job that discouraged--or even prohibited--personal calls (and texts!) or cell phone use during work hours? Why not create a similar kind of bubble or "time zone" in you life, say, weekly, or, (why not?) daily? It might be the best thing you could do for A) your child's skills of autonomy and self-reliance and/or B) your own psycho-spiritual health. Co-dependency is hell!
     You can prep your kids by saying to them, "You will survive. And, if you don't then, so be it: We're all on the same relentless and inexorable trajectory with death. Besides, even if Your human bodymind is unable to figure out how to survive this crisis, You will survive. The real You will just retreat to that Place of Origin that you imagine, and the rest of the world will go on."

So, why not do your self a favor!