One of the hardest things about being a parent is watching your adult children leave the nest. While you’re excited — and probably ready — for them to become fully fledged adults, it’s tricky knowing you won’t always be at hand to protect them if they need you.

It’s also hard as your own experience tells you that life is sometimes very difficult. And when you look at your children, you naturally don’t want them to go through some of the struggles you’ve encountered.

However, with trepidation in your heart, a parent’s job is to send their kids into the world to survive, grow, and hopefully thrive. You have to have confidence that the lessons you have passed down to them over the years will do the job in setting them up with a successful future.

But, as your child sets off from home, there are two final words of advice you can deliver to them: come home.

The simple instruction “come home” is something that is celebrated in the Catholic faith. The parable of the Prodigal Son, in which a destitute son is welcomed back into the home having spent his inheritance extravagantly, echoes God’s unconditional love for His children.

And of course, through baptism you do not only enter God’s family, but you’re invited to return by His side in the eternal life: to “come home.”

Therefore, giving your children the instruction to “come home” under any circumstances doesn’t just reflect your role as a loving parent, it also echoes your faith.