Your child’s discernment is a multi-year process that has milestones along the way. Your support as a parent does not start and end when your child decides to enter religious life or the priesthood.
Your support will take on different elements and forms as your child progresses on this journey. Supporting your child while still in your home or close by, provides more latitude in what you can provide than when your child enters religious formation.
Depending on where and with whom your child enters religious formation, the community will add new guidelines on physical interaction, and communication. Love, emotional, and prayer support will never change, but other forms will evolve as your child moves through the stages of formation based in some part by the community they join.