21 Things Parents and Children Learned When They Stopped Living Under the Same Roof

Sooner or later parents will have to face the fact that their children will leave the nest, maybe to go to college, maybe somewhere else. Time flies by and one good day children are small and fill your home with laughter and tears — the next, they move away from home, and parents are left wondering how they’re doing, or maybe enjoying a new type of freedom.

At Bright Side, we have collected stories shared by people who have learned some lessons about their new life and roles after their children became independent.

• My oldest son drinks milk like crazy. I’d buy 4 to 6 gallons a week for our family of 5. He moved out, so I figured I’d need half of that. I even poured a gallon down the sink because it went bad. So then I just got one gallon. And we sometimes didn’t use that so I buy half gallons now. This means I was spending over $500 a year just on milk for my oldest. It took me almost 6 months to figure out portions for protein, I was making 3 side dishes, I now cut that to 2. © ogier_79 / Reddit
• The moment our son moved out to live on his own he became a vegetarian. He never gave us any indication he was planning to or wanted to be a vegetarian. © LaoBa / Reddit
• One thing is how much I do miss my kids. I enjoy them not being here but I miss them. I was so tired of living in one room (the master bedroom was also my office and I work from home) and I enjoy the extra room, but I hate not stopping by to talk or joking around when I see something weird or funny online. Or just grabbing something I know they like when I am at the store and just kind of dropping it by their room as I go past. All those little things are gone now. I hope they realize how much those little things really meant. © CrustyBatchOfNature / Reddit
• As much as I loved it when my parents weren’t complaining to me about something when there was suddenly no other soul in my apartment with me, that was depressing. © omglookawhale / Reddit

• How much my kids truly like and love me. They keep in contact all the time and find any excuse to come over and hang out with me. I figured they would just go on to live their own lives and leave me behind. Guess I did a good job. © cr***happy / Reddit
• My college-age son spends $90/week on groceries since moving into an apartment and shopping on his own. My own shopping bill has dropped a lot more than that since he moved out. But weirdly, he is gaining weight (still healthy, just not stick thin). I think doing his own shopping has changed his eating habits for the better. © optiongeek / Reddit
• The possibility of spending much more time with my wife, which wasn’t a surprise, but to sort of rediscovering her as the amazing individual I once fell in love with. I never lost sight of it, but the roles of mother and father took up soo much of our time, so our “we”-time had always been on the back-burner. © Iloathwinter / Reddit
• My son left and moved out at 19 last year and I’ve been verklempt about his absence in our daily lives. We still have 3 more kids at home and I’ve started hugging them twice as much. © comfort_fiend / Reddit

• How quiet and empty our house felt. I could hear the kitchen clock tick. The melancholy. © Quint27A / Reddit
• I lived on my own for 10 years and my house was ALWAYS clean. It bugged me how other people’s places weren’t clean most of the time. I only need to clean like once every 2 weeks for an hour or so but for the most part, I’m not a messy person, so I never made a mess. It really showed me that, growing up, I wasn’t the reason the house was always messy. © B***Oreo / Reddit

• How many kitchen utensils you actually need to make basic meals. I’m sorry mom, I will never make fun of your crowded cupboards again. © ersin23 / Reddit
• My mom said the most surprising thing to her is all the meals she used to cook for us that I hated, I now request those same meals frequently. LOL © el_monstruo / Reddit
• Amusingly, my father specifically told me not to call my mother the first 3 weeks I was away at school. It was a good move. She got over the worrying phase, I felt some independence and then had a nice talk with my mom. © varro-reatin*s / Reddit

• How much we miss our daily interactions, even when they were just 15 minutes long. Before our oldest children moved out (2 to go!), they were hardly home. Between college, “study groups,” working, and social activities, on most days we’d see them just before bed and just after they woke up. Now that they’re out on their own, we really miss even those “daily check-ins.” We still call and text a lot. But obviously, it isn’t the same. I get that your children aren’t given to you, they’re loaned to you. But it feels like a part of you has been amputated. © RandoBoomer / Reddit
• We were pleased to discover that we still like each other A LOT and enjoy our quiet life. We see and talk to our (adult) kids a lot but we have carved out a separate life together. It’s nice. © Bee-Bopp / Reddit
• My parents have had 5 kids move out so far and are now the proud owners of 3 cats and 2 dogs. I’m fully convinced she is replacing us with animals. Not sure if I should be offended that she got a Pomeranian when I moved out. That thing is really annoying. © deeznutz066 / Reddit

What is your life like outside your parents’ home? What lessons did you learn from moving out on your own?

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