best transition ever: grandparenting
natalie today show
Natalie joins the TODAY SHOW SEGMENT with MARIA SHRIVER, hosting THE NEW GOLDEN AGE OF GRANDPARENTING

with Natalie caine

Holiday Stress in the Empty Nest

November 11, 2008 | by Natalie Caine | 2 Comments

I notice this year, more than others that traditions no longer work for some families.
Children are far away. In-laws have rights, too. Divorce means sharing. Grandparents and parents have died. Military families are separated. Illness causes limitations. Economic challenges affect travel, menus, and gift giving.
How do you still have a celebration?
1. Lower your expectations

2 Responses

  1. Laura Elliott says:
    November 15, 2008 at 6:12 pm

    Thanks so much for this post. This Thanksgiving is going to be very different for me and your thoughts have helped me feel better about it. It’s complicated, but Thanksgiving is just a day. And it’s OK that the tradition changes. I guess it’s what we make of it. Change, for me this year, is feeling really hard.

    Reply
  2. Frances Lowden says:
    March 3, 2009 at 8:53 pm

    The season has passed but the blues have not. My entire immediate family is in Anchorage, Alaska. My daughters are 28 and 31. My grandchildren are age 8, 2 and one to be born in April, 2009. I have a career yet am constantly distracted by what is going on in their lives. I feel disconnected but lean heavily on my faith in God. I feel isolated and nothing seems to bring me joy. I have been a widow for over 14 years. I tried taking courses at a local college. I don’t like travelling alone. I used to travel with my youngest daughter.
    I wanted them to leave the nest and they did. They married within a year of one another. I am looking for joyous times in my life but the short days and long nights and some medical issues bring me nothing but more gray days. I don’t like Alaskan weather and am not eager to move there.I really want to be a snowbird. There are days when I really appreciate my freedom but at other times I fill up my days with lots of nothing.I am a reader and would rather do that than watch T.V. though lately I have been watching far too much T.V.
    The holidays remind me of what I think is missing. I will reverse that by making new traditions. After all is said and done I am really grateful to be alive and am glad that I have the opportunity to be called mom. Thanks for this opportunity to express my feelings.

    Reply

Join conversation

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