Eventually, all parents become empty nesters, whether it's when the kids leave for college, work, marriage or other pursuits. Suddenly, your home is no longer the place where your children live. Though it takes some adjusting, patience and creativity, being an empty nester can be an exciting and rejuvenating time. Many parents look towards the empty nest with some trepidation, but there's so much to enjoy about this new phase in your life. Here are 10 things to look forward to when the kids fly the coop:
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Your House Is Clean
Gone is the detritus of your children's lives scattered here and there, carelessly flung about and forgotten. Your bathroom towels will stay hung neatly on their bars, the dishes are placed in the dishwasher instead of left to sit next to the sink. Beds remain made, floors remain clean, clothes are neatly put away. Mystery spills vanish, and you never wake up to a mess. Who knew it could be like this?
You Discover You Still Like Your Partner...Or Make A Big Change
Some couples decide that it's time to separate and move on, others remember why it was they fell in love in the first place -- or find new reasons and ways to connect to each other. Without your kids, you become each other's only companion when you're at home. <em>It can't be overstated how much of a distraction our kids are while they are growing up.</em> This is probably the most jolting part of the empty nest -- when you look at each other and think, "Oh wow, it's just us now." For better or worse, it will happen.
You Can Sleep Through The Night
No longer are you waiting for the sound of a key in the door, or the porch light to be turned off upon your children's safe return from another night out. No longer are you part of the day-to-day ups and downs of your children's lives ... no matter how often they may text/call/email/facebook message/tweet you. Their mental and physical well-being, though still hugely important to you, are their responsibilities now, and you no longer have the minutiae of their daily lives to think about like you did when they lived at home.
You Food Bill Drops Significantly
If your kids are in college, or even if they're not, you may still be paying for them to eat. But it's nice to go to the grocery store and come home with the things you want, and not have to buy all the things they want, things that you really don't want in your house.
You Have A Lot More Free Time
Initially, this may be disturbing or difficult for you to deal with. You may want to do things you've missed -- museums, movies, theater, travel or you may not want to do much of anything at all. Whatever your thing is, there's now time to do it ... a lot of time.
You Can Spend Time With People You Like
No longer do you have to socialize with other parents because of your children's connections. No more booster club barbecues or committee meetings, making small talk with people you most likely never would have crossed paths with if it weren't for the fact that your children were on the same team/in the same class/part of the same group of friends.
You Begin To Experience Your Children As Young Adults
Your children leave home and, for better or worse, they have to grow up, no matter how much help you may be giving them financially OR emotionally. There are just too many daily things to manage, too many random people to deal with, too many bumps and blips that they have to encounter on their own that leads to them, inevitably and sometimes painfully, growing up. It can be liberating when kids take over, driving or planning or explaining -- giving up some authority is in many ways a big relief.
Your Kids Come To Visit...
There's nothing quite as wonderful as seeing your kids after weeks or months apart, especially when they first go away to college. Their faces are familiar and beautiful, their smiles just for you, their laundry ready to be washed...it's such a thrill to have them home for holidays, or summers, or a weekend visit. Within minutes of their return, it's as though they never left. You love having them home for a while, but then...
...Then They Go Back Where They Came From
Enough said.
Your Future Is Yours
Remember before kids, when you would dream and plan for the rest of your life? Remember when it was wide open, and you had no idea what would happen next? Well, you can do that again, now that you're an empty-nester. No longer do you have to worry about childcare, or kids missing school, or whether they'll like the place you pick to go on vacation -- your time, your future, and your life is yours to create. Always wanted to travel? Now you can. Go back to school? Now's the time. Write a book? Get cracking. You have your life to live, just as they have theirs. Go do it!
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Eventually, all parents become empty nesters, whether it's when the kids leave for college, work, marriage or other pursuits. Suddenly, your home is no longer the place where your children live. Thoug...
Eventually, all parents become empty nesters, whether it's when the kids leave for college, work, marriage or other pursuits. Suddenly, your home is no longer the place where your children live. Thoug...
LOL!
Oh, how naive I was. I LOVE being an empty nester.
Listening to your music as loud as you want!
No extra "guests" at the dinner table!
Having the washer and drier all to yourself!
Your kids realizing how much it costs for food, housing and utilities! Priceless!!
We took a road trip last weekend, and all 5 of our tribe called us, four told us to have a great time, one of them said we'd have more fun if he came along. My husband assured him that was definitely not the case.
Your car insurance bill goes down.
Your car has gas and when you get in, the seat is where you left it, and your hair doesn't get blasted back by the loud music when you start it up.
You can run to the linen closet when you need a towel without having to get fully dressed, because there's no chance you'll traumatize your offspring, and go into debt for their psychiatric care.
You no longer have to hide your chocolate in a container marked "broccoli" in the freezer.
Kelly
http://www.zazzle.com/artnip
Whether all these other things are true or not depends on the pets one has.