Children who are brought up in freedom, who rightly make their own lives, do not naturally all separate themselves, but return, coming and going at their convenience to their old home. Their parents discover in time that instead of having children and grandchildren to love and care for, it is they themselves who are possessed by their children and their children’s children. It is a reversal of earlier relationships that may lead so naturally to the happy closing of long married life.

William G Sewell, 1982