How did you feel when your kids left home

pollypenny wrote: »

Mine boomeranged back and fore for years!

I was eventually glad to get rid of them, although I wish they lived nearer.

I quite envy friends who have their grandchildren about half an hour away.

Me too! Skyping, facetiming etc is all very well - but to see them for only a couple of times a year is hard. They grow up before you know it. And now, with grandson 1 going even further away - and on his own - at 18 - seems such a greater wrench :-(

But - on the other hand, I haven't had to become a "granny nanny" as some friends have become :-D

I was in tears at the thought of my daughter leaving when she went to uni nearly 2 years ago, but we see her every 5-6 weeks, either for 3 days or a number of weeks. (EG, she stays home for 3 weeks at Christmas, then for a week in mid Feb, then for 3 weeks at Easter, then she comes back for about 9-10 weeks in late June (when she finishes for summer.) Then she goes back early Sept, and then comes for a week around late Oct, and then comes back for Christmas.

I have to say, we are both used to her not being here for about two thirds of the year now. And it's OK. We speak to her every 2-3 days on the phone, we talk on skype once a week, and she has a life in her uni town; friends, hobbies, groups, and her degree course of course. She is coming back to our town when she finishes her degree, but plans to move into a place with her boyfriend who lives 20 miles from us.

You do get to enjoy the quiet and the tidy house, and not having to pick up and tidy up for them, and do washing, and run them around every five minutes! I do NOT miss the school run/college run.

I do look forward to her coming home though.

Lily-Rose wrote: »

What on earth is a granny nanny Thorsoak?!

A granny nanny is someone who retires early from her job, so that each day she can still get up a 6am, drive through the rush hour to where her daughter/son lives, so that she can take over child-rearing duties so that daughter/son can go to work at 7am. She stays until 7pm in the evening and goes home exhausted ....doing the same thing as she did some 30 years earlier and had the energy of someone who was 30 years younger! :cool:

thorsoak wrote: »

A granny nanny is someone who retires early from her job, so that each day she can still get up a 6am, drive through the rush hour to where her daughter/son lives, so that she can take over child-rearing duties so that daughter/son can go to work at 7am. She stays until 7pm in the evening and goes home exhausted ....doing the same thing as she did some 30 years earlier and had the energy of someone who was 30 years younger! :cool:

Oh that makes sense.

Thanks Thorsoak.

Yep, although I would happily help my daughter if she was struggling, I would not fancy taking on THAT commitment. :rotfl: Occasional babysitting yes, but full time? Probably not. :cool:

I would like to eventually have grandkids, but surely the responsibility lies with the parents to find childcare if both parents carry on working? It's a bit unfair on the grandparents.

Jagraf wrote: »

I so understand. My DD had a friend who was reared by her gran for free (a free granny nanny!) She was only in her fifties, gave up a fantastic job. She's really poorly now but kids are nowhere to be seen, they left the country on the back of a promotion.

My mum has always said how little I asked of her, which meant she was free to enjoy the good times with DD.

Wow. And I bet many other 'granny nannies' are also not paid.

Bit of a cheek really. :rotfl: I mean to expect the childcare and to not even offer to pay.

I know a few people like this. (Several to whom I am related,) and the 'granny nannies' gripe constantly about it, but never tell their children. So the free nanny service continues.