EMPTY NESTERS

We don't stop parenting when our children are grown, but our role shifts. Here's a brand-new book with excellent advice and coaching for navigating this new phase of life. Author Nancy Williams is a Christian and a licensed professional counselor and trained life coach.

When the last child leaves home, parents often struggle with their "empty nest." When the last child leaving home is a missionary overseas, it helps to understand that part of what you're dealing with is entering the empty nest phase of life. Focus on the Family offers a number of helpful articles on their website. Go to http://www.focusonthefamily.com/ and then search for “Focus Over Fifty.” Check it out!

From mid-life.com at www.mid-life.com/family/legacy.html here are five reasons to continue to improve your relationships with your children even after the children are adults and have left home:

1. Most parents will live more years as an empty-nester than with a child at home.

2. The relationships parents and grown children can be more joyful and more satisfying than the relationship parents had with them as small children.

3. Empty nest parents can be such valuable consultants to leaving-the-nest children in areas of parenting, finance, church callings, etc.

4. Kids who have grown up and left can be a window on the world for parents giving them a perspective on everything from new technology to new trends.

5. The Scriptures mention "family" more than 300 times, and not once does it mean just parents and children in the home. It always refers to extended family three or more generations including children who have left home.

Adapted from Empty-Nest Parenting: Adjusting Your Stewardship As Your Children Leave Home by Richard M. Eyre, Linda Eyre, & Saren Eyre Loosli.