June is a time of transition for a lot of families. The end of the school year, graduations from one phase of schooling to the next –– endings and beginnings have a way of surfacing the feels.
And no one likes to process endings more than psychoanalysts. So as we’re at the end of the school year, and Rob has a child who just graduated high school — how?! –– we decided to spend some time today talking about endings. Rob shares some wisdom from his son’s head of school, Gillian talks about navigating change for kids and adults in a household, and we break down how the John Denver/Peter, Paul, & Mary classic “Leaving on a Jet Plane” encapsulates the vulnerabilities and fantasies of saying goodbye.
Listen to the full episode to hear:
- The way so much of parenting becomes maintenance and banality, interspersed with moments of magic
- How the wider community begins to play a bigger developmental role in the transition from little kid to big kid
- Navigating adult transitional phases and relationships alongside your kiddos growing
- How “Leaving on a Jet Plane” taps into the grief, love, and vulnerability of goodbyes of all kinds
- How a child leaving the nest changes the center of gravity for the rest of the family
- The relatively unsung genius of 38 Special
Learn more about Gillian Boudreau, PhD.:
Learn more about Rob Galligan, PhD.:
Resources:
What is I Hate You. What's For Dinner? ?
On I Hate You. What's For Dinner? we explore whether childhood explains everything. We'll ask our biggest questions about love and hate, rage and fear, and the awesome and mundane that all get smushed together when we're growing up.
Tune in to make better sense of childhood, parenthood, and life in general.