Restaurants Are Hard Enough to Run. Try Doing It With Your Mother.

Jennifer Lu stood quietly behind a wooden counter modestly adorned with a golden bucket of candy and red flags celebrating the Year of the Snake, which also happens to be the name of her daughter Patty Lu’s pastry pop-up.

On that particular day, Patty Lu stood zen-like and laser-focused, flipping pastries with chopsticks in the fryer in the cavernous commercial kitchen they operate out of in Berkeley, Calif. But the elder Ms. Lu admitted later in a phone call that they have sometimes fought in front of customers — loudly.

When Patty Lu started her pop-up in the East Bay three years ago, she recalled being in the weeds and behind on orders, when her mother appeared in line with her friends to buy pastries. She immediately jumped in to help.

“She’s shown up every weekend since and just hasn’t left,” said Patty Lu, whose mother continues to drive two hours each week to help out.

Parents have become more involved in their adult children’s lives and most report that it’s for the positive. According to a Pew Research Center survey, nearly 41 percent of parents reported that their young adult child relies on them for a strong amount of emotional support, with mothers identifying as the source of emotional support more frequently than fathers.

The feelings are mutual, and many adult children describe their relationships with their parents as healthy and fulfilling.