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What I Learned About Working Parenthood After My Kids Grew Up

by Avivah Wittenberg-Cox

Quick Takes

  • Refocus on professional priorities and dreams
  • Enjoy your weekends and evenings
  • Travel for work becomes an opportunity to explore

There are so many articles about the challenges and stresses of being a working parent. Let me, for a moment, shine a light on the pleasures that await you once your kids have grown up and left home—it comes faster than you think.

You’ve probably heard of the happiness U-curve of life.1 All over the world, human happiness slumps between the ages of 30 and 50. Those marriage-parenting-eldercare-working years can be a tough slog, as many of us will admit to one another.

But what fewer parents will admit to is the ...

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