when kids are no longer kids

The parent-child relationship is confusing, especially when you get to the point where you feel that you may be more mentally acute than your aging parents. We're in our thirties now, and yet our parents still feel the need to preach to us regularly about our finances and life decisions. I don't mind the advice or their supposed "wisdom of ages", but I'm starting to wonder when we cross that pivotal point when we know better than they do. I suppose that with each parent it will be different. Some lose their mental capacity quicker than others. Some hit ninety and are still sharp as tacks.

So how do we deal with this? How do we take off their rose-tinted glasses so that they can see that we aren't little children anymore - that we are parents ourselves now, and have the capability to make sound decisions on our own. Apparently, our past decisions aren't enough to convince them that we know what we're doing. It's ridiculous, actually. I ask myself why I even deal with it, or (better yet) why I let it get to me. I suppose that there are books on the subject to help cope.

My mother-in-law grilled me yesterday over the phone over a home-buying decision, for no real reason other than the fact that it would scare the pants off of her to undertake such an adventure. She's stuck where she is - comfortable, numb even. I try to put myself into her shoes to better understand why she feels the need to impose her sense of "doom" on everyone else, but I'm left wondering why we haven't quit talking to her by now. They say that family is forever, but with her it is a forever headache, and it shouldn't be. We shouldn't have to be verbally accosted for every decision we make in life just so that our children can grow up knowing their grandparents. Sorry...just venting.