EMPTY NEST SYNDROME hit me unexpectedly in Tesco and it hit me like a freight train. All the chicken breast fillets were packaged for two people and there was only one of us at home now. I spent the rest of that food shop choking back tears.
I was shocked at my reaction. My 18-year-old son was loving his first term at uni and I was thrilled for him. I’d always found parenting a bit of a chore and had always worked, so it wasn’t as if I was defined by motherhood. What was going on?
It seems that feelings of sadness when a child leaves home are common among parents. The COVID-19 pandemic hasn’t helped. With lockdowns throwing families together 24/7, we got very used to having our children around. A study of 1,000 parents from student accommodation provider Unite
