From Mommy to Mentor: Parenting Adult Children

By Pamela Jennings Taylor

This book takes the reader from the early stages of being a mommy to the end destination of mentoring adult children. As we, parents, grow and become more experienced in life, we have an ongoing responsibility to deposit wisdom, truth, and guidance to them.

Reading this book will help you identify what stage you and your child are in, and how to successfully move through each stage. The primary goal is mentorship.

You will learn how to:

• Punt the responsibility back to adult children

• Keep your relationships strong during periods of their bad decisions

• Sharpen your mentoring skills

• Teach your children practical life skills

Parenting is only a piece of God’s ultimate plan for your life. Follow this journey for nuggets of insight, tools, and examples of how we can navigate through the process together…..from Mommy to Mentor.

Mamas, give it your best shot and then rest in God.

You have to come out whole!

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Aug 14, 2019
• ISBN: 9781973670292

Pamela Jennings Taylor

Pamela Jennings Taylor is a wife, mother, sister, aunt, nurse, writer, and has many more roles, just as other women do. She has a soft spot in her heart for mothers who, sometimes, have difficulty transitioning from the phase of being “Mommy” to learning how to navigate to a new role of “Mentor” to their adult children. Over the years, Pamela has had to rely on the leading of the Holy Spirit to provide her with wisdom and guidance through each stage of parenting. This reliance persists to this day because mentoring her adult children is ongoing. Her desire to help mothers will forever be her inspiration and motivation, and thus, the reason she began to write. Pamela is married to her husband of more than 33 years, Kevin Taylor, and has three children, Kevin, Jr., Gabrielle, and Jonathan. She resides in Pelham, Alabama.

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Copyright © 2019 Pamela Jennings Taylor.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan

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Bloomington, IN 47403

www.westbowpress.com

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Scripture taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

ISBN: 978-1-9736-7028-5 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-9736-7029-2 (e)

WestBow Press rev. date: 8/6/2019

When I was young, I don’t think I appreciated how awesome my mother was. She attended most of my events, awards and celebrations. It didn’t dawn on me until I was older…maybe college or after. Her way of parenting was a model to me, so I decided that I would pattern my parenting after her, whenever I had children. This book is a tribute to my mom: Mary Elizabeth Henry Jennings (1932-1988).

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Thank you to my husband of thirty-three years (and counting) for his encouragement, love, and support before, during, and after completion of this book. He is my biggest fan.

I want to thank my children for their belief in my abilities, their constructive recommendations, insight, and most of all, their love for me.

I also want to thank the Warrior Women Prayer Group for being not only my prayer group for over 27 years, but a support group as well.

Most importantly, thank You Father God for loving me, saving me, and then trusting me to help Mommies through this book.

CONTENTS

Chapter 1     Mommy

Chapter 2     Pre-Adult Stage

Chapter 3     The aha Moment: When You

Realize Things Are Different

Chapter 4     Do They Still Need Me?

Chapter 5     The Punting Game

Chapter 6     Unwise Decisions

Chapter 7     Relationship Decisions

Chapter 8     Career Decisions

Chapter 9     Support, Not Sacrifice

Chapter 10   Coming Out Whole

Scriptures for Mom

Scriptures for The Adult Child

Thank You Father - Daddy God - for giving me this book to help mothers around the world make a smooth transition to their new, somewhat rocky position as their child’s, their little baby’s, their precious one’s, mentor. It is somewhat daunting, scary, and not necessarily the progressive path that one wants to take. Mommy-ing appears safer and sweeter, but mentoring is a blessed path. It can be rewarding – just as rewarding and fulfilling as mommy-ing. And God promises to help!

Affirmation written 5/31/2017, about 1 ½ years before I began writing this book.

MOMMY

CHAPTER 1

I t took us four years to conceive. I wanted to be a mother so badly, but I just was not getting pregnant. I supported others having baby showers and made a conscious decision to be happy and celebrate with them. In the back of my mind though, I just was not understanding why it was taking so long.

I distinctly remember where I was when I had an overwhelming, consuming feeling of a different kind of love. I was on Green Springs Avenue, not far from my house. As I came to a stop light, the biggest smile came on my face. I remember asking God aloud, What was that? He was gently letting me know the feeling of a mother’s love.

A few months down the road,