When your child grows up, but you can't let go

You are in your 20s or 30s, and you have finally decided it is time to move out. You rehearse the conversation in your head, wondering how to tell your parents without making them feel abandoned. Will they think you are leaving them behind? Will they be lonely? On the other side of that conversation, your parent is trying to make peace with the fact that their ‘little’ child now wants a life of their own. “Don't move too far,” they plead. “Settle somewhere nearby.”

For some families, moving out to a house close by becomes a compromise. For others, it becomes a source of guilt, conflict and emotional dependence. So where does healthy family closeness end, and the inability to let go begin?