The Middle of Life Unlike the young adult, people in the middle of their lives are dealing with realignment, growth, and change. I think this realignment of the launching stage brings with it a time of crisis for the family and the persons identity. In the launching stage, when a person is reaching mid-life, is a time when the first child leaves the home to start a career or continue with schooling. This stage can be considerably difficult on the parents, especially if they only have one child or it is the end of the launching stage with their last child leaving. The parents must deal with a sense of loss or parting, either emotional (not being as close) or all together (move far aw