If you’re a parent, letting go of your children is often one of the toughest phases of parenting. Erma Bombeck compared it to flying a kite.

‘Mum and dad run down the road hoping to catch a breeze. Eventually, and with much effort, they manage to hoist the kite a few feet in the air. Just when they think it is safely underway, great danger looms. It dives towards electrical lines and twirls perilously near the trees. It is a scary moment.

'Then, unexpectedly, a gust of wind catches the kite and carries it upward. Mum and dad begin feeding line as rapidly as they can. The kite then becomes difficult to hold. Parents reach the end of their line and begin to wonder what to do next. The little craft demands more freedom. It rises higher and higher. Dad stands on tiptoe to accommodate the tug. It is now grasped tenuously between his index finger and thumb, held upward towards the sky.

'Then comes the moment of release. The string slips through his fingers, and the kite soars majestically into God’s beautiful sky. The kite is now a mere pinpoint of colour in the sky. The parents are proud of what they have done – but sad to realise that their job is finished. It was a labour of love. But where did the years go?’

Parenting is an exhilarating and terrifying experience, and one that was ordained from the beginning. With the ultimate release, your task as a parent is finished. The kite is free, and so, for the first time in twenty years or so, are you. What’s next? Ask God; He has a plan for your life.