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WHY DO EMPTY NESTERS DO THAT?

September 5, 2007 | by Natalie Caine | 2 Comments

Sharon, a mom of a junior in college, during our phone consultation, told me she is torturing herself because she feels so needy. She wants her son to call when he gets there. She wants him to email her how his day is going. She wants to know what he is doing for the weekend.
No, she isn

2 Responses

  1. Margie says:
    September 8, 2007 at 12:10 pm

    What a wonderful post Nataalie!!!!
    Thank you so much!
    Each day my son is gone, it’s getting easier for me!
    I still miss him very much, but life is good!
    Focus on your new life, and let them build theirs.
    Great words from you!
    That is how it needs to be!
    My son was home last night, but off to play his first ballgame with his college team today.
    I can’t go, as our puppy is sick, but I’m cheering him on at home, and so very proud of him!!!!!
    Margie

    Reply
  2. Sandi says:
    September 21, 2007 at 1:06 pm

    Such a good post…I think it so important for us Empty Nesters to take time to acknowledge our feelings and to care for ourselves, after so many years of caring for our children. You said it so well–Focus on your new life, and let them build theirs–we WANT our kids to grow independent and strong, we WANT our kids to move to the next stage, we WANT our kids to fly….what gets in the way is our emotion, our feeling of not being needed anymore, our feeling of our children not really HAVING to talk to us…WE need to grow and move on….so hard to do, yet so necessary.
    Sandi

    Reply

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Natalie Caine, M.A. natalie@lifeintransition.org