Getting Ready for Your Children Leaving Home

If you’ve spent the last 15-20 years raising your children, empty nest syndrome is a real fear. When they grow up and leave home it’s a real endorsement of your parenting skills: it proves you’ve adequately prepared your brood for life in the real world, but it leaves you with a suddenly huge amount of time to fill every day, and if your goals have all been set around family, this is a real problem.

Today we’re looking at ways to prepare for this new phase of your life, when you’re suddenly back in the drivers seat and get to decide where to go.

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It’s important to start establishing a new routine. What does family time look like for you now?

You’re going to want to check up on your children regularly, but doing it too often or too intrusively will simply drive them away. It’s best to talk about it openly: find times that are convenient, and schedule catch ups that are agreeable to all parties, whether that’s a phone call a couple of times a week, or a long lunch once a month.

New Projects

You need to find something valuable to concentrate on, especially in the early days. As the weeks and months pass you’ll be more comfortable with the absence of your children and your feelings of loss will diminish. But in the immediate aftermath of this major life change you need to be proactive in giving yourself a distraction.

If you’re interested in practising a skill – maybe one you haven’t had the chance to exercise since the birth of your children – start your search at your local community college, library or arts centre. If they don’t host a relevant class, they’ll be able to point you in the right direction for painting, french or Improvised Comedy, as you prefer!

If you prefer home improvements, this can be a great use of your time, that you can see results from very quickly. Clearing your newly spare room and turning it into a study, a home gym or even simply a well decorated guestroom can be a project you can pour plenty of time into and show off proudly. If you’re looking for storage in London to stow away furniture and create a blank canvas, you’ll find plenty of options to help you out.