Things We Wish We’d Known BEFORE We Sent Our Kids to College

It’s that time of year again, and many new empty nesters are sending a fledgling off to college for the first time. Here are some DOs and DON’Ts from your seasoned GypsyNesters on how to get through that first semester without losing your mind.

 1. Don’t start off on a bad note. It’s hard to let our kids go. The day our babies head out on their own is a tough one for any parent. Because of her self-awareness about her emotional outbursts, Veronica… CONTINUE READING >> 

It’s that time of year again, and many new empty nesters are sending a fledgling off to college for the first time. Here are some DOs and DON’Ts from your seasoned GypsyNesters on how to get through that first semester without losing your mind.

 1. Don’t start off on a bad note. It’s hard to let our kids go. The day our babies head out on their own is a tough one for any parent. Because of her self-awareness about her emotional outbursts, Veronica… CONTINUE READING >> 

Post-Parting Depression: Saying Good-bye to My Adult Kids

Having just returned from our first visit to our eldest’s new home in Paris, we felt that this is a good time to take another look at this story.

I’ve got an issue and I need help! I’m hoping I’ll get a lot of suggestions on this post from our amazingly insightful readers…

CONTINUE READING >> 

Having just returned from our first visit to our eldest’s new home in Paris, we felt that this is a good time to take another look at this story.

I’ve got an issue and I need help! I’m hoping I’ll get a lot of suggestions on this post from our amazingly insightful readers…

CONTINUE READING >> 

Crowdsourcing the ULTIMATE College Care Package

With the scholars settling in after a couple months away at school, we offer these ideas for the best care package ever. Even though we have been through it three times, we still got by with a little help from our friends…

CONTINUE READING >> 

With the scholars settling in after a couple months away at school, we offer these ideas for the best care package ever. Even though we have been through it three times, we still got by with a little help from our friends…

CONTINUE READING >> 

How to Plan a Family Vacation with Adult Kids

We’ve had this fantasy about whisking our entire family off to an exotic location for some time now. Imagine the five of us blissfully getting away from it all, laughing and sharing our experiences as we sip umbrella drinks while the sun sets into a tropical ocean.

Putting together a family vacation after the kids are grown and living on their own seems like it should be a snap compared to traveling with toddlers, or worse yet, teenagers.

So why is it so hard? 

With no roadside diaper changes, exploding sippy cup disasters… CONTINUE READING >>

We’ve had this fantasy about whisking our entire family off to an exotic location for some time now. Imagine the five of us blissfully getting away from it all, laughing and sharing our experiences as we sip umbrella drinks while the sun sets into a tropical ocean.

Putting together a family vacation after the kids are grown and living on their own seems like it should be a snap compared to traveling with toddlers, or worse yet, teenagers.

So why is it so hard? 

With no roadside diaper changes, exploding sippy cup disasters… CONTINUE READING >>

Mama Loves a Ball of Paint

In honor of Mother’s Day, and mothers everywhere, and in keeping with our love for anything and everything World’s Largest, Greatest, Biggest, or Best,we are revisiting this story of our very first Mother’s Day as empty nesters…

CONTINUE READING >> 

In honor of Mother’s Day, and mothers everywhere, and in keeping with our love for anything and everything World’s Largest, Greatest, Biggest, or Best,we are revisiting this story of our very first Mother’s Day as empty nesters…

CONTINUE READING >> 

Grandchildish Behavior

I’ve had two unexpected conversations recently that have given me pause for reflection. The first was with my father-in-law while dining over Mexican food in Kansas. While catching him up with our kids’ lives, he asked me if they were dating anyone of note. I told him that at the moment there were no significant others. Then, the bolt out of the blue,”Oh, you must be sad that you won’t be having grandchildren anytime soon.”

The next exchange was with my daughters, The Piglet and Decibel.

“All of our friends’ mothers are on crazy grandma patrol. How come you aren’t nagging us about having babies?”

It started out as gentle teasing, but… CONTINUE READING  >>

I’ve had two unexpected conversations recently that have given me pause for reflection. The first was with my father-in-law while dining over Mexican food in Kansas. While catching him up with our kids’ lives, he asked me if they were dating anyone of note. I told him that at the moment there were no significant others. Then, the bolt out of the blue,”Oh, you must be sad that you won’t be having grandchildren anytime soon.”

The next exchange was with my daughters, The Piglet and Decibel.

“All of our friends’ mothers are on crazy grandma patrol. How come you aren’t nagging us about having babies?”

It started out as gentle teasing, but… CONTINUE READING  >>

No, We Won’t Buy You a…

Our main goal as parents was to end up with happy, healthy, self-sufficient adults.

We can’t tell anyone how to do this — everyone’s different and Lord knows we made our share of mistakes along the way — but we can offer an insight that we’ve gained through our own offspring’s transitions from childhood to adulthood.

Don’t give kids everything they want, just everything they need.

A whole lot of what they want is stupid crap and… CONTINUE READING >>

Our main goal as parents was to end up with happy, healthy, self-sufficient adults.

We can’t tell anyone how to do this — everyone’s different and Lord knows we made our share of mistakes along the way — but we can offer an insight that we’ve gained through our own offspring’s transitions from childhood to adulthood.

Don’t give kids everything they want, just everything they need.

A whole lot of what they want is stupid crap and… CONTINUE READING >>

Who’s Kidding Who?

The last task of raising a child is letting them go.

Allowing them to flap their cute little wings and fly… giving them a gentle nudge out of the nest to get them airborne.

OK, sometimes it’s more like a hard shove off a cliff… but then the harder transition from the parent-child to an adult-to-adult relationship must be made.

This process doesn’t happen overnight… CONTINUE  READING >>

The last task of raising a child is letting them go.

Allowing them to flap their cute little wings and fly… giving them a gentle nudge out of the nest to get them airborne.

OK, sometimes it’s more like a hard shove off a cliff… but then the harder transition from the parent-child to an adult-to-adult relationship must be made.

This process doesn’t happen overnight… CONTINUE  READING >>