Empty Nest

Posted on by Reena Saxena

I don’t know when life passed us by.

We taught the cute munchkins how to walk and keep their balance. Soon, it was their time to run and it was part of our responsibility to provide the playground.

It was a pleasure to watch them fall, get up again, discover their velocity. We just kept the wheels oiled to enable their journey through life. We rounded and smoothened every edge to prevent the sharpness from hurting them.

I don’t know why my heart is in the mouth today. They are ready to fly away, and how I wish they don’t….

Friday Fictioneers

20 thoughts on “Empty Nest”

  3. Every parent’s plight. Such a sweet story, and so true. Was thinking that sometimes parents smooth too many edges and that leads to more difficulty as they age. My Mom, addict and idiot that she was, didn’t sugarcoat the truth. The reality of what a gun did was taught first hand – hunting. The reality of drunk driving was taught on accident scenes and a brother who killed a mother. So, I guess I’m saying that this current generation doesn’t seem to have an understanding of reality or its’ consequences.

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    1. I remember this being done in small ways. If we made efforts to touch a hot iron, our finger was once put on it to let us know what happens. And we never touched it again.

      Both parents and children have both positive and negative sides. Ultimately, it’s a relationship between two individuals, irrespective of the biological or social bond.

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      1. Yes. One of our traditions is not to tell a child under the age of 5 the word “no”… Crazy notion. But, I put it into practice with my preschoolers. Instead I use the phrase “I’d rather that you didn’t (whatever) because you could get hurt.” Sometimes the boys, being boys, do it anyway. Then, as I bandage their knee, give them an icepack for their boo-boo, I remind them that I warned them they could be hurt and this is the consequence of ignoring that warning. Usually that happens the first few days. After that, they tend to listen. Now, would I let them do something that could break a bone or worse…No! But, falling out of a chair because you refuse to listen to what will happen if you lean in it…yeah, sometimes you gotta let them learn the hard way. These little ones, now grown, still remember that i was honest with them, and respect that. Still come to me for advice on how to raise their own kids. I take that as the highest praise imaginable.

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  4. While I know how hard it is to say goodbye–four children–I also understand the excitement of leaving home and venturing out on one’s own, and would never try to keep my kids close to me when it was time for them to fly! And now, from this perspective (I’m 76) I know that life does not end when the children leave. It’s what we raised them to do, after all, and I enjoy their company now more than I did years ago. It is the right time to become friends with one’s children when they are independent and capable of life without your intervention. I loved them as babies, toddlers, elementary and high school age, college, and beyond. I think I love them now even more.

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  7. Wow! I felt this. 🥺 It is extremely heart breaking when our babies grow up and move away to begin their journey of life, while we as mother’s sit here empty nested Wondering what’s next? All we’ve known is Motherhood and have lost part of ourselves as human beings.

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