Tag: empty nest

The following is an excerpt from "HappiNest: Finding Fulfillment After Your Kids Leave Home"

After the marathon of child-rearing, it’s time to turn toward your spouse and nurture the bond you share. If the marriage is solid after all these years, you can focus on the two of you. You can look forward to navigating this transition with novelty, fun, and a sense of adventure.

Are you a woman that struggles with what comes next? Have you and your spouse recently been left with an "empty nest," approaching retirement or wanting a job change? These are just a few of the many areas of what I believe many women experience and a term I call an "empty nexter."

An empty nexter is a woman who has met (or not met) all the expectations society has for them—gotten married, raised children, taken care of their husband and the home. This is a woman who was expected to be polite, not hurt anyone's feelings and put herself second to others' needs.

Carpooling, champion games, making dinner, grocery shopping, tending to Sunday rituals… the day in and day out tasks of keeping a home and a family together. It can be tough when family life begins to unravel whether due to separation and divorce, kids leaving the nest or a loved one passing.

Each milestone can either become another hint of loneliness or a chance to begin to individualize again after years of familial responsibilities. Here are four ways to embrace your alone time so that you don’t fear lonliness… it won’t last.

Older married couples can lose sleep when they help support grown kids, but the exact reasons for being awake at night may be different for men and women, a recent study suggests.

Most parents probably don't need a study to tell them they lose sleep over their kids, but there is plenty of research showing this happens all the time while children are young and living at home. The current study offers fresh insight into how grown kids can still contribute to sleep problems even for empty nesters, said lead study author Amber Seidel of Penn State York in Pennsylvania.

"Family interactions continue to affect us well into later adulthood," Seidel said by e-mail. "The idea that being an empty nester will eliminate the worries and stresses associated with parenting is a very limited view."