Have you ever stopped to reflect what type of parent you are? I find it hard not to think about this often. Parenting is such a huge responsibility, yet we really do not have any formal training on what to do. There were times when my sons were growing up when I would second guess my decisions. The one thing that I did differently than my parents did was if I made a mistake I admitted it and apologized for it. So many parents will not acknowledge if they make a mistake. I think it is good to let your children discover that everyone makes mistakes and that the best thing to do when it happens is to correct the mistake and move on.
One thing that my husband and I have agreed on is not to meddle in our children’s married life. Both of our sons are now married and are looking at different property. My one son found a house that is for rent with the option to buy. The rental rate is reasonable. I was happy that he was looking at doing this. The house that they are looking at is older. It has been remodeled and updated, however whenever you are dealing with an older home you never know what can go wrong. My thought was that by renting with the option to buy they would know for sure whether this was the right house for them. They would also get a feel for the neighborhood as well as the commute to work. After looking at other properties they settled on the option to buy home. They signed a six month lease. The deal was directly with the owner of the property. The owner had relocated to Arizona for the winter and was going move into a condominium for the summer months here. He would like to sell the house, however as long as he is getting the rental income he will wait for the six months. He told my son and his wife that if they decided to buy the house they could consider the rent money they will pay in the six months as a down payment. In other words he would have the amount of the rent off the asking price of the house.
Our other son thought this was such a great set up that he is looking for a home to rent that has the option to buy. He said he had done this with rental furniture when he was living in his apartment when he first was finished with college. He was glad he had done this because he rented leather furniture with the option to buy. After having the furniture for a period of time he decided that the furniture was not comfortable, so he took it back and rented a different set. He thought it would be great to be able to try out a house before making such a huge investment.