Seeing your daughter leave the nest can be challenging for any parent. Thankfully, you did an excellent job raising them to be independent, confident, and capable of taking on the world.
Now, your daughter is moving away and starting a life of her own. Whether they are moving for college, basic training, a new relationship, or a promotion, you can be proud that you’ve raised a self-sufficient human being!
As joyful as you’re feeling now, it’s also entirely natural to feel sadness and loneliness at the thought of this drastic change in your life. Every new season has a period of adjustment. Instead of being a chauffeur to ballet class and basketball practice or staying up late to help with projects and proofreading, you’ll be supporting your daughter in new ways from afar.
It may take some time to find balance within this new stage of parenting. However, it’s an exciting time for you and your daughter because you can pursue your own goals and passions while welcoming a new type of mother-daughter relationship.
What Do I Do When My Daughter Decides To Move Away?
When your daughter announces she is moving away, the first thing to do is be as supportive as possible. Be there for her as she’s planning her move, and help her look at apartments or dorms.
This is a scary, exciting time for both of you as you navigate new territory. Your daughter is going through her own set of emotions about these changes while you are processing how drastically your home life is about to change.
Sending your daughter off into the world is your reward for a job well done. You helped prepare a person to grow with confidence and autonomy. Still, as the days grow closer to their send-off day, you may be wondering how you’re going to cope with such a dramatic change in your life.
Above all, remember that these feelings show how deeply you love your daughter. They’re a testament to the bond that you share—a bond that can never be broken!
How To Cope With Your Daughter Moving Away
If you’re not sure how to handle these unexpected feelings, there’s no need to worry! The team at Lovebox has put together fifteen ways to cope with your daughter moving away.
Keep reading to discover the best ways to transition into your exciting new role as a parent!
1. Discuss Communication Expectations Before They Move Away
It’s important to set communication goals before your daughter leaves so that you’re both on the same page. Once you set those goals, make sure you stick to them as best as possible.
Sometimes, it can be difficult to chat as much as you’d like depending on your daughter’s schedule. It’s essential to find at least one day a week to catch up and chat or video call, but remember to be understanding if your daughter needs to reschedule a call or two.
Remember that your daughter will be busy exploring her new world. You can discuss her schedule and adjust your communication expectations as needed, so no one’s feelings get hurt due to preconceived communication expectations.
2. Spend Time Finding a New Hobby
Now’s the time to pursue a hobby you’ve always wanted to try! You’ve spent many years pouring your energy into raising your daughter, and now you can take the time to pursue your own goals.
Take up journaling, gardening, or learning to play a musical instrument. Have you always wanted to write a novel? Write it! The opportunities are endless when trying to rediscover what you love to do in your free time. Take advantage of them now.
3. Find a Cause You Support
One of the best ways to cope when you feel lonely or unsure of what to do in this new season of your life is to find a mission you can get behind.
You might want to start a book drive or a food drive in your community, or you can volunteer at the hospital or nursing home. If one-on-one time is more your style, try spending time with local foster kids who need people to drive them to the doctor or dentist. You can even spend time with your elderly neighbors!
The key is finding something you are passionate about that brings you joy.
4. Pursue Higher Education
Many parents find themselves putting their careers on hold when the busyness of parenthood takes over. As an empty nester, you can rediscover your career and educational goals.
Maybe you want to go back to college and get a graduate degree, or perhaps you want to change careers entirely and pursue a new dream. The choice is entirely up to you.
This is an exciting time for you as well as your daughter! Take some time to talk to an advisor or career counselor to determine the best education and career course for your new dreams.
5. Celebrate Your Success as a Parent
You did it! You created a human being who’s comfortable enough to venture out on their own and be who they are. Now, it’s time to celebrate.
Go to dinner, invite friends over who you haven’t seen in a while, or go on a celebratory weekend getaway. It’s your time to shine and celebrate your accomplishments alongside your daughter’s.
You and your spouse or partner can now take the time to celebrate all of the years of parenting and hard work you did to create a fantastic human being!
6. Plan a Daughter’s Weekend Getaway
At some point, plan a weekend trip to a relaxing place you and your daughter have been wanting to visit. Find time in both of your schedules to prepare to take a mother-daughter vacation.
Be sure to put a date on the calendar so you can both look forward to seeing each other at a specific time. Maybe a fun shopping trip to the city or a lovely relaxing cabin weekend will be just what you need.
Knowing when you will see each other next is a great way to cope with your daughter moving away. It helps you both get through the transition of being apart for extended periods, and it gives you something to look forward to together.
7. Help Your Daughter With Her Holiday Breaks
If your daughter moved away for college, help her coordinate her holiday breaks. Usually, the holiday season can be stressful for your daughter, thanks to midterms, finals, packing their dorm, and other end-of-the-semester activities.
These stressors may make it difficult for them to coordinate their travel home, so your help will be invaluable while she handles things at school.
Planning your daughter’s visits will help you cope with her moving away just like a girls’ trip can. Just make sure you talk to your daughter before making any travel plans so that you can tailor her trip to her schedule.
8. Cultivate New Friendships
When coping with your daughter moving away, it’s essential to prioritize your friendships and get involved in social activities. Find like-minded people who enjoy the same hobbies and activities as you, and get involved in your community.
If you’re not sure who you would enjoy spending time with, find local groups and go to their introductory meetings to see if you find a home there.
If you’re still struggling with ways to get involved, here’s a list of fun groups to help you get started:
- Local garden club
- Local women’s league
- Book clubs
- Library association
- Church groups
- Hiking clubs
- Habitat for Humanity
-
Running clubs
An endless number of leagues and organizations can help you cultivate new friendships and hobbies.
You can look for opportunities to get involved in your neighborhood as well. Maybe other neighbors and friends are going through a similar change in their lives and would love to find other new empty nesters.
9. Take Your Dream Vacation
Now that your daughter has moved away, it is the perfect time to take your dream trip with your partner!
Whether it’s a cruise or a trip to Europe, you can plan the ultimate parent’s dream trip. It’s a great time to reconnect with your spouse and spend some long-overdue one-on-one time together. Let your imagination run wild—you both deserve it!
10. Send Healthy Care Packages
If you’re concerned that your daughter may not be eating as nutritiously as she should, a great way to show her how much you care is to send regular care packages.
Your daughter would probably love to receive a package with her favorite non-perishable snacks such as popcorn, oatmeal, chips, and breakfast bars. Plus, you could include little gifts to show her how much you miss her.
While eating healthy snacks is important, don’t forget their favorite candies to get them through long study sessions and all-nighters. Your daughter will be sure to appreciate anything you send!
11. Give Each Other Space
When your daughter moves away, it’s essential that you give her space to adapt to this new chapter of her life. And that goes both ways! Your daughter should also give you the space you need to transition into this new phase of life.
As important as it is to communicate and grow in your new relationship, it’s vital to give each other the space you need to spread your wings.
You now have a unique opportunity to watch your daughter grow into the person you’ve spent years guiding and molding. Your roots have prepared them for life, and you both need to trust that she has the tools she needs to thrive.
12. Decide To Be Happy
If you’re struggling with this change in your life, decide to be happy until you are delighted. “Fake it until you make it” might be a cliche, but it can help during times of transition.
Realize that you and your daughter are both where you need to be. This change is the best thing for both of you. Even though it’s important to acknowledge whatever emotions you are feeling, how you view these new opportunities is entirely up to you.
13. Seek Support When You Need To Talk About Your Feelings
It’s entirely normal to have moments of feeling lonely, sad, or insecure. If you’re struggling with processing your feelings, find someone to talk things through.
Seek out a trusted counselor, pastor, friend, or other parents whose daughter also moved away and share your thoughts with them. Don’t resist your feelings or emotions. This is an essential, natural part of the coping process.
14. Learn To Date Your Spouse Again
One of the ways to cope with your daughter moving away is to reconnect with your partner or spouse.
Often when you’re raising children in the home, it can be challenging to continue to date your spouse because of busy schedules. Driving kids back and forth from swim practice, helping with homework, and attending school functions doesn’t leave much time for romance.
Now that you have an empty nest, take the time to get to know each other again as a romantic couple, not just as parents. Go out on dates, take romantic weekend trips, learn a new hobby together, watch movies, and have fun!
15. Send Sweet Messages With Lovebox for Parents
It’s essential to find new ways to communicate with your daughter after she has moved away. Thanks to modern technology, there’s an endless array of technology to choose from, such as texting, email, FaceTime, Skype, and Snapchat.
When you start noticing that you’re both bored with traditional methods of communication, it might be time to get creative with something new.
At Lovebox, we’ve designed a unique connected messaging device to help send your daughter sweet messages, stickers, drawings, pictures, and much more! Lovebox for Parents is a fun, user-friendly device that’s a great way to stay connected with your daughter while expressing love and affection no matter how far away they moved.
We also have the Lovebox Original Color & Photo, a fully customizable device perfect for your daughter to send you cute messages in return. Once you try Lovebox, you’ll never want to go back to regular communication again!
The Lovebox for Parents device pairs with our free, easy-to-use app to create your unique message to your daughter and either send it immediately or schedule it for later.
When your daughter receives the message, the heart on the Lovebox will spin. Then, in return, they can spin the heart to send you back a waterfall of hearts to cascade on the app. The app also saves all of your sweet notes to each other, so one day, you can look back on everything you’ve sent each other over the years.
Summary
All in all, there are plenty of ways to cope with your daughter moving away. The key is to find what works best for you.
Remember, it’s an exciting new season for both you and your daughter, filled with endless opportunities to pursue new hobbies and activities. Learn new skills, pursue a new degree or career path, or volunteer with a cause that’s important to you. Take your dream trip or vacation, and learn to date your spouse again.
Be sure to discuss communication with your daughter ahead of time, so you’re both prepared for how much or how little you want to communicate—and how you want to do it.
When traditional forms of communication become dull, use Lovebox for Parents to send unique and instant expressions of affection no matter how far away your daughter moves from you.
Sources:
My daughter is moving 3,000 miles away, and it will make us both better people | The Washington Post
How to Let Go of Your Irreplaceable, Unstoppable Daughter | NYTimes
How to Cope With Your Child Moving Away From Home | Psychology Today
