Empty nesters - give me your tips please!

[ClaireNJ]

More money, more time, more freedom,less meals to cook 😊😊
What’s not too love when the kids leave home 🙊
Seriously I can sleep a bit better without waiting for them to get home after a night out
You should be proud when the kids leave home as it means you’ve done a good job as they want to stand on their own 2 feet 😍
Both my boys have bought their own homes & have children too, I’m an immensely happy Mum 💕💕

[Sandra & co]

Can’t get rid of mine, I would love a empty nest they keep coming back!

[sam7]

When DS went to uni I had his sister at home, she had gone through that horrible stage as a teenages and we werent that close, but I remember looking at her bedroom door and thinking 'well its just you now', we ended up getting very close and she is now my best friend - when she went to uni I did find it hard, but unlike her brother who where we struggled to find out if he was still alive, she contacted me all the time with what she was up to. I often drove over and we went shopping and had lunch (not all the time, maybe once a month), she also came home more often (like when she needed washing doing).
Both stayed near their uni towns and we have now moved to the same village as DD.
Keeping busy is important, hopefully they will keep in touch. Plan visits so you have that to look forward to (bribing them with the offer of buying food really helps). Good luck

[ClaireNJ]

Originally Posted by Sandra & co

Can’t get rid of mine, I would love a empty nest they keep coming back!

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That’s cause you keep making them cakes Sandra

[Tweety1]

I’m dreading it

[jdybnsn]

Getting a dog ... that is how we coped.

[smithlane]

This will potentially be me in 2 years depending on if DS goes to Uni or does an apprenticeship. I'm half dreading it half looking forward to it

DD is off to Uni this September but isn't staying in halls so she will be living part time at my SIL's and half at home depending on her timetable. She is such a home bird it wouldn't surprise me in the least if she lives at home far longer than her brother. I actually want her to spread her wings and move out, I know it's important for her development but she's not quite ready yet, maybe in Year 2. DS16 is the complete opposite and is so independent, given half the chance he'd leave home now!

My OH and I got together when my kids were 9 and 7 so we haven't ever lived alone just the 2 of us, I must admit to looking forward to it . I will miss them terribly once they have both flown but certainly not the mess!

I'm sure you'll be fine when the time comes OP, it sounds like you will be keeping busy and have a close group of friends. Just think of the extra holidays you can have with the money you'll save

[ChrisS]

Originally Posted by djewkes

I had 4 children and they all left home, then a couple moved back (at different times) for 18 months and 4 years, the last one left home for uni 6 years ago when she was 33, she was still coming home for the holidays till she left uni 3 years ago, she’s now teaching in weymouth….many miles from us……because it was so gradual taking many years between the first and the last I never really had the empty nest syndrome (I did she’d a few tears when each one left though) and by the time they’d all left I was really ready…….
I think from the minute of conception we are getting them ready to be independent…..to quote…it’s the Circle of life…..

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Hiya Di, hope you are well hin

My sis, Diane, and I chose not to have kids [knew at age 12, remember my friends mother laughing her back off whilst insisting I'd have 'em, not a chance!]... so, we never understood/had a maternal bone atween us. Within the last few years I only realised what maternal bones meant to mother. We'd returned from our winter sojourn and whilst visiting ma and pa, ma quips, 'only need Di home from France then I'll have you all back', it fair stumped me as I hadn't realised how strong a mother's maternal instinct is even tho both us lasses are over 60 with one of her lads circa 69 and the youngest circa 56. I found it disconcerting that me/Di being away so long was on her mind. It was due to her comment that I didn't tell her our plans/flight when covid drove us home in April 2020. She was pleased to see us peering thro her front window, came to the front door, stepped down to hug me then remembered she couldn't, horrible moment. It was also hard for her with me being admitted to hospital so much over the past year and not being able to visit, thank goodness for Google Duo/WhatsApp.

Mind, being a tad lost isn't exclusive to you parents, we bairns fret too. Mother took a nasty fall last Saturday and needed emergency partial hip replacement, what a horrid feeling of helplessness, plus we can't visit her. She's in a superb rehab centre in Stanhope now, 17 miles away, I think a wave thro the window is on the cards

Take good care Di, keep well hin

[EssexSue]

Theres a great quote from Homer Simpson in Lisa's substitute where he says (paraphrased) to Lisa "you will go out and find new people to love but for me all the people I love most are under this roof'. Really struck a nerve with me somehow. I am on holiday with fourteen of the fifteen people I love most in the world. So yes empty nest is the end of the beginning but it's not the beginning of the end.

[munmun]

Originally Posted by EssexSue

Theres a great quote from Homer Simpson in Lisa's substitute where he says (paraphrased) to Lisa "you will go out and find new people to love but for me all the people I love most are under this roof'. Really struck a nerve with me somehow. I am on holiday with fourteen of the fifteen people I love most in the world. So yes empty nest is the end of the beginning but it's not the beginning of the end.

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Perfect answer Sue