Damn! There she was caught up in another one of those power struggles with her son, fighting over who would decide when something would be done. When he was young, a day almost never went by without at least one battle like that. He would never just do his homework when she wanted him to or clean up his room when she told him to. He always put things off till the last minute. Recently, though, things seemed to be getting better. There hadn't been so much of that awful bickering. But still every once in a while, like now, one of those old battle themes cropped up - like a wedge between them.

She wondered if their relationship would ever change, or was it always going to be like this? He was practically an adult now. Next week he would turn 18. Was it still necessary to play the power game by not giving in to him, trying to show him she was the parent and had the say? Was it still her job to teach him to be more responsible and to do things when they were supposed to be done and not when he felt like it? Or was it time to let go and let him learn from others?

She decided it was time for their relationship to grow, for it to become one of just caring for each other, no longer a relationship where one person has power over the other. Her job as a mother and teacher was over. It was time to accept him as an adult, an equal, and treat him like she would a friend, no more struggles for power, just take it as is comes. She suddenly felt very relieved.

"Okay!" she said, "I'll help you now. I can do my other work later on."