When your children grow up and leave home...

[putchyrsg]

Don you have any plans? For example are you going to downsize, move to a different location, eat out every night ( without feeling guilty that kids need to be fed) all lighthearted of course. My boys are teenagers and we have a holiday home an hour anyway. I plan to fully spend my summers there and enjoy not having to clean a whole big house ( and pick up after people all day)

Just curious to see if people have any little goals/ plans they are looking forward to once the responsibilities of young children are gone

I'm almost there... Eldest 2 DC are at university, youngest is in Y12. I can't see any of them coming back home permanently after graduating.

I've taken a slightly different approach to the OP though. I had my DC fairly young (in my 20s) and I'm taking the opportunity to ramp up my career now that I don't have to juggle it with childcare. I went back to university myself to study an MSc a couple of years ago, and this year have started in a professional role related to the degree. I'm loving it.

So no downsizing for me just yet - one of the DC's rooms will be becoming my home office!

Just go back to my pre-child life I hope! It's letting go of having to be responsible for 2 other lives - the mental load of it all.

Like the moment you don't have to bring the change bag with you every time you go out.

Im going to be around retirement age when youngest ds is 18. love to think dh and I will do some travelling. But I also expect I'll be working till 68 and don't think our pensions will necessarily enable us the lifestyle we would want. Because house prices are low where I am, even if we downsize we will not release much equity. So I'm looking forward to more spontaneity but no big plans.

A couple of years ago I might have said DH and I could have sex in every room at any time of the day......now I'd just like to get in the bathroom, use the kitchen sink without having to wash up first, and have clean plates and glasses, peace and quiet and be able to take a day off from cooking (actually most days off from cooking).

We are almost there. Youngest dc is 16 and older has moved out into uni student accommodation.

We will travel outside of school holidays (so much cheaper), eat out where we want, much more free time (due to not doing school admin or nagging ds to study or helping them choose and apply for uni) to just do nothing at all.

Bliss.

Dh wants to move to central London (we are currently zone 3) but I am sentimental about our house and value the bigger space, garden and storage in case dcs want to move back in after uni.

Being able to go out for the day without worrying about missing the 3pm school pick up would be bliss!

We plan to go around the world. Twice.

first. By air and land east, to Australia and then continue to Japan and Canada, Usa and then back to Europe.

Then, buy a Bluewater boat and go into the opposite direction (sort of) and circumnavigate.

Possibky over a 10-12 year period.

That happens a lot earlier (youngest is 12) than before they leave home (usually 18). The lack of 3 pm pick up would have lost its shine by then. But it is still an incredibly liberating feeling when it happens.

We will downsize our house and free up some equity as it's far too large for just us. We may also relocate. We have a smaller holiday home too an hour from us and plan to spend a lot more time there.

Our DC are pretty small though so a long way off and my eldest says he's never leaving home and will live with us forever 😂

We used to have a touring caravan and would love one again after retirement to do this 😊