ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the impact of the loss on adult children in their thirties and forties. It suggests a number of generic themes that may occur. In our culture parental death for an adult child is seen as relatively unimportant in comparison with death of younger persons. If parenting primarily connotes basic nurturance and meeting daily survival needs, then most middle aged persons neither need nor want parenting; however, if parenting is conceptualized differently as suggested, there persists a viable and significant bond between adult children and their parents. The chapter examines the child-parent relationship, primarily from the vantage of the adult child. The bond has been severed, and as part of the grief for a parent there may be an attempt to recapture the essence of the relationship, to dwell on past events and feelings in a life review.
