Of course, the inevitable conclusion to a wedding is a daughter leaving her parents' nest. This might be a moot point, at least in the literal sense — your daughter may have been living on her own for years, or even in another city — but still, things change once she says, “I do.” Once she takes a husband, her priorities have to shift. He has to be Numero Uno, now and always, and you…well, you have to wish them well and let them go.

Are They Ready? Are They Happy?

Regardless of how prepared they are, once they've taken the plunge, your daughter and her new husband are going to have to be ready for married life. Hopefully, each of them is mature enough to know that real life — after the wedding hoopla — is sometimes pretty dull. They've spent months basking in the glow of other people's good wishes and attending parties in their honor. When all of that comes to a screeching halt, newlyweds sometimes feel panicked, as though they may have been enjoying their engagement far too much to realize what they were really doing. Whether these newlyweds are honest with themselves, or each other, or anyone else, about these particular concerns is another matter.

So, if you have a daughter who has recently become a wife and she doesn't seem nearly as happy as you — or she — thought she would be, she may be suffering from Post-Wedding Letdown. Does this mean that she wasn't mature enough to get married? Should you start panicking? Was all of the planning and the expense of the wedding for naught?

Probably not. Most likely it simply means that she's entering a new phase of life. Having experienced change during the course of your own life, you know that big transitions are not easy. Don't pry. Let her hang out at your house if she wants to. Don't encourage her to complain about her husband. This will all pass, and she'll come out on the other side happy as a little lark.

They're Too Happy

Often, newlyweds find themselves living a perfect life in a perfect world. As a parent with a few years of experience, you know that real life is far from perfect, and that it's only a matter of time before the walls of their little fairytale kingdom come crashing down all around them — or directly on top of them.

Let them live in their own atmosphere for now. You're 100 percent correct; life will eventually catch up with them. You don't need to throw your two cents in now, telling them how scared they should be, living paycheck-to-paycheck. They really don't need to hear that the apartment they're renting borders on being uninhabitable. They'll realize these things soon enough, and if their wedded bliss can shield them from some of life's unpleasantries right now…well, everyone should be so lucky.

Of course, when those walls do come crashing down, your duty will be to hold your tongue and avoid telling them, “I would have told you so, but I was too nice.”

Your Hopes for Them

One of the hardest things for parents to accept is that their kids are adults. You may have certain dreams for your daughter, and she may have certain dreams of her own, but it's not uncommon for dreams to be put on hold after marriage. Think back to when you were a young man: Were there goals you wanted to accomplish? Did you meet every one of them, or did some of them fall by the wayside when you realized they didn't jibe with your perfect image of married life?

In the end, you must give your daughter credit for the decisions she makes. If she was planning on going to medical school, but has now taken a job to support her husband as he makes his way through graduate school, that's her choice. It's not up to you to tell her she's making a big mistake. You're going to have to trust her best judgment, difficult as it may be. The wisest dads know that if they can't say something nice or supportive…they shouldn't say anything at all.