How to Cope with Your Child Moving Out: A Guide for Parents

Preparing for your child to move out for the very first time can be an emotional experience for any parent. Even though you’re excited for your child to start their new journey away from home, it doesn’t make it any easier to cope with their absence in your home and start in your own home routine without them there. 

Supporting your child moving out is essential for them to feel loved and cared for, but it’s also essential to care for yourself during this emotional time too. If you’re looking for ways to cope when your child is planning to move out, this guide can help you. 

Keep Yourself Busy 

Your child moving out is going to have a big impact on your routine, and you want to avoid feeling lost or tempted to speak with them all the time. Keeping yourself busy will be helpful for the transition period, and you may even want to start up a new hobby or interest — especially if you now have a lot more free time to do so. 

Put Their Old Belongings in Storage 

It’s usually the case that when growing children fly the nest, they leave behind a lot of their old items or items they don’t want to take with them. They may even leave their bedroom in exactly the same state. If you hold onto their room and items as they always were, it can make the process more difficult to accept that they’ve moved out. While there’s nothing wrong with keeping hold of their old possessions, it’s also a good idea to make productive plans for the space. 

Your child may be okay with you using their old bedroom to turn into something else, such as a home office or home gym space. You can move their old belongings into storage if you need to, to make room at home without having to throw anything away; try storagearea.com for some ideas.

Reconnect with Others in Your Life 

Time as a parent puts a huge focus on your child. While living at home, it may have been that your relationship with your child was the strongest one you had, taking up a lot of your time. Now is the prime opportunity to make sure any other relationships aren’t being neglected. Especially if you are two parents living together in the house which your child has vacated, now is the perfect opportunity to spend quality time together and reconnect. 

Try to Distance Yourself a Little 

One thing that a child doesn’t want when only just leaving home is for their parent to be making contact every minute of the day. Naturally, it will be difficult not to want to check in on them all the time, but make sure you give them enough breathing space to learn and grow on this new adventure.

Final Tip: Be Honest with Your Emotions

As a parent in this position, don’t feel pressured to act as though you’re fine if you’re feeling emotionally overwhelmed. You can both support your child and be honest with your emotions at the same time. Take as much time as you need to process the change.