Tips On How To Handle Empty Nest Syndrome

It’s easier than it seems.

Daphnie

• Published in Interesting
• August 20, 2024

Empty nest syndrome is the feeling that parents get when they send off their children to college or if they are just leaving their home for a new adventure after high school. Parents who have had their children in their homes for so many years are inevitably feeling this way.

There are many reasons that you may feel this way when your children leave home but one of the biggest reasons is for a lot of parents who have just one child. This hits them pretty hard and many parents explain feeling very empty and like they have a hole in their chest.

Whether you are a parent currently experiencing this, a parent who will experience this, or someone who is just here to read along, you're going to enjoy these ways to cope with the empty nest syndrome. So many parents go through this every year, and not many people shed light on how they feel.

This situation is most definitely interesting because many parents probably do feel this way and hopefully these coping mechanisms can really help some people with going through this very difficult adjustment. Let's dive in and look at how people have been able to cope with their empty nest syndrome and how you might be able to cope as well.

Empty nest syndrome has been hitting parents hard and there are some ways you can cope with it.

Tapashi Rabeya spoke out about their only son leaving the home and how she, a divorced single mom, has been dealing with how she feels. She said she is going to live "vicariously through him," but she explained that she's very anxious.

"The closer it gets, it can become daunting," Rabeya said. "I'm trying not to think about myself too much, but I feel a big, empty hole in my chest. He's my only child. I've invested every single thing into him."

An emotional rollercoaster is the perfect way to describe it.

Monica Vermani, a clinical psychologist, said that this is real and that it can be an "emotional rollercoaster." "Empty nest syndrome is real," she says and she continued to say that parents can "feel lost."

When a parent's role as a primary caregiver changes, this can cause a lot of confusion as they navigate a new relationship with a child who no longer needs to be cared for essentially. "You spend so much time and energy in being parents that you do lose parts of your individuation, and you do lose parts of your connectedness to your partner," Vermani said.

"And when your child goes to school, it is about feeling that change of, OK, I've gone from giving myself to this child and helping raise it with the values for them to be self-sufficient, and now I don't know what I'm like without them."

There are many ways you can cope with this new situation and work on navigating it the best way possible.

The first step is to trust that your child is ready to go off on their own. Being confident in your skills as a parent to set up your child for the "Real world" is essential in knowing that your child will be okay without you.

"The situation is always hard for parents," Vermani says. "We raise these kids that were reliant on us for survival, and now they want to be individuals that are independent of us. So that's about us cutting the cord too, and working on our own anxiety and trusting that we've given the tools and the skills and values to our kids that they can be good human beings who contribute to society and live their own lives."

Leaning into new roles that don't necessarily involve caregivers is beneficial as well. Finding new hobbies, volunteering, going on vacation, or just doing things you wouldn't normally be able to do with a child are great options.

It's always great to find support and find parents that even might be going through the same thing you.

Many parents have said that finding new hobbies or opening up a new business could potentially help you feel that purpose that you don't feel as much with older children. Many parents said to lean into the fact that you don't have children holding you back from anything and enjoy the changes of life.

Connecting with people and finding friends who may be going through the same thing can help find you someone to relate to. This is also a great way to make new friends and fill in that time that used to be taken up by your children.

People who go through this empty nest syndrome definitely have to go through just as big of an adjustment as the kid needs to. It's a huge thing for both the parents and the child but it's important to remember your role as a parent and just trust your parenting styles.

If you're confident that you set them up for success then there's no reason to worry about them.

Daphnie