TALK BACK TODAY
Posted: Thursday, May 10, 2007 6:21 PM by Katharine Billman
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Talk Back Today
After today’s story on empty nesters, many of you told us about both the fears and freedoms of sending your kids off to college. Here are a few of your e-mails:
Survive the Empty Nest!! I am in tears here ... I have been struggling with this all week ... my only child is graduating on June 1st ... and she will head off to Drexel University in the fall. I am a single parent and I am a mess. I am so proud of my daughter for getting into the college of her choice and just for being who she is ... and I am going to miss her soooooooooo much!!! She knows this and she says she is going to miss me too ... Im not sure she knows how much this is bothering me and I really don’t want her to know. She says we are like the Gilmore girls and I don’t want her worrying about me.
Thank you,
Denise
Please!! Do we always have to hear about things like empty nest as a major upset in our lives? We are like a chair with a leg cut off? Why is it always about me? Can we please ever think about it as a positive-we have prepared our children to go out into the world-they are ready and we can be happy. We are mature adults-or should be and we can handle life without children in every aspect. Live for today not yesterday. Move on & get a life-which you should already have. I love my children & have loved every phase including letting them go the next step-out of the home. I love when they come home but I am fine when they leave to live their own lives again-and I love sharing in that-from a distance. Please can we allow ourselves to grow up? Thanks for letting me offer an opinion! I do enjoy the Today Show-but do get tired of sometimes the "sappiness".
-Ann Hanson
Has it occurred to anyone that the unique attitudinal characteristics of the typical teenager is God's way of making it easy for parents to "let go"?
-Den
Re your story on Empty Nesters, my empty nest story is a bit different, so I did not really relate to it. Having said that, I think there are many others like me out there. I love both my children dearly, and they are great kids who did not give us too much of a run for our money. Nevertheless, when my youngest daughter went off to college last August, my husband and I threw up our hands, danced around and said “FREE AT LAST”......and then we proceeded to spend a long weekend at a B & B in Acadia.
-Today viewer
Are you dreading an empty nest? How did you adjust to the new dynamic in your home? Are you like my parents who wasted no time turning my brother's sports-themed room into a bedroom worthy of a New England B&B? Send us your comments.
