Despite the relief parents often feel when their children finally leave home, after a while many of them experience a sense of loss. Here are some survival strategies:
Move into a smaller space; sell or store the excess furniture.
Expand your environment. Convert a former child's room into a den, home office or workroom.
Fill the void. Some young people who have left their homes in distant cities may need not only a place to live but a family to live with. You may gain a substitute son or daughter who will gladly do household or other tasks in exchange for rent. Draw up a written contract so that expectations are clear on both sides.
Develop new relationships, volunteer to drive old age pensioners around or to work with children.
Expand your horizons-don't just sit at home waiting for your children to pay a visit. Enrol in further education, or take trips to beauty spots around the country that you've wanted to visit.
Join a tennis or swimming club, go horse riding or aim to lower your golf handicap. Pick up the old pastimes and hobbies that you left to one side during the years of working and/or raising a family.
