tvdw on parenthood premiere 501 :)

It’s also exemplary of what this episode’s theme is: Parents think they have perfect understanding of their children at every age, but they almost never do, because their kids are separate human beings. In fact, it’s often the case that parents can find those kids incredibly irritating and hard to deal with. Crosby’s waiting for that rush of love that will accompany his new baby daughter being in his arms, but it hasn’t come yet. Adam sees his son tromping over to Hank’s studio as another mess to clean up. Sarah waits for her son to text or call or e-mail, but she doesn’t get anything outside of some emojis. It’s not a brilliantly developed theme or anything, but it’s there, and it shows another thing that unites all of the characters on this show: They’re all learning to let go of their offspring, bit by painful bit. Crosby’s daughter may be brand new, but she’s already growing into a person who will be completely independent someday, while Max is finding his own path to that independence and Drew is reveling in it perhaps a bit too much. To be a parent is to already miss someone you see every day, just a little bit, and in its best moments, even with all of the messy process of getting caught up, “It Has To Be Now” remembers that.

http://www.avclub.com/articles/it-has-to-be-now,103031/