65 People Shared The Things That Surprised Them The Most After Their Kids Moved Out

"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 their own lives and leave me behind. Guess I did a good job."

"My mom bought two guinea pigs because "the house felt empty"."

"The possibility to spend much more time with my wife, which wasn't a surprise, but to sort of rediscover 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 (I know I haven't worded this very clearly, but I hope you get what I mean)."

"We have 4 kids. When the 1st on left, I was surprised at how much the whole dynamic of the house changed. Don't know how to explain it. Just a different vibe. Also, we did a pretty good job of having dinner together as a family nearly every night. So, of course, everyone had their place at the table and that never changed. For a few months after the first one moved out, sometimes I'd look to the other end of the table and my wife would be spontaneously crying as she looked at the empty spot next to her. (Don't worry, we're doing better now.) Lastly, this can be quite emotional for some parents because in some ways they are almost having a funeral for the child. Once that kid moves out, there can be a literal mourning of the "death" of a child because that child is never coming back. When they visit again they are an adult. And by saying this I certainly don't want to trivialize the trauma folks experience at the actual death of a child. This isn't nearly as hard. Not even in the same universe of difficulty."

"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 annoying as hell."

"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."

"When I moved out (I moved countries too so I was gone, gone) I got a pitiful phone call from my parents. They begged me to return. My dad said he needed someone to talk to (basically he wanted his free therapist back) and needed someone to give him back massages (He historically had back problems and my mom is bad at massaging sore muscles without leaving bruises). My mom begged me to come back and take over parenting, cooking and cleaning again saying that she was too old. It made me feel very used. I hadn't realized how much I had been doing for them. It was especially manipulative when my mom put my baby sister on and she cried and asked why I didn't love her anymore and told me about how my mom wasn't taking care of her and just ignored her needs (she was 4)."

"That a gallon of milk and loaf of bread did not cost $20."

"I asked my dad this and he said it was how much money they suddenly had, and how everything wasn't broken anymore. Once we moved out, they bought all new appliances, windows, bathroom fixtures, recarpeted, and repainted."

"How far I could make groceries stretch."

"How much stuff they can actually live without. My kids left so much stuff."

"I do not know how to cook for two. Since my son moved out three weeks ago, I've been cooking twice a week and we've been eating a lot of leftovers."

"Having to shift my focus from them to myself. What the heck do I do now."

"My mother told me that she didn’t realize how much noise I made lol."

"That we talk more now that he lives on his own. We seriously play games at least twice a week for four to six hours. I also realized I was the safe mom that all his friends felt comfortable with. They still call to talk or stop by for a social distanced catch-up. I also realized that my water bill was only a 1/4 of what it used to be. I wasn’t imagining the super long showers."

"I don't have to do laundry every day!!"

"I’m not a parent, but my parents are going to notice how there’s still someone putting dishes in the sink."

"One thing is how much I do miss my kids. I enjoy them not being here (even more once the last one moves out and my MIL is gone) but I miss them. I was so tired of living in one room (master bedroom was also my office and I work from home) and I enjoy the extra room, but I hate not stopping by and 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. The other is some of my own personal issues. I want to hear from my kids but I don't want to bother them so I don't contact them as often as I would like. I have never been much of a just talk-to-talk person so that hurts me in communications. I see a lot of my dad in me that way, he rarely ever calls me except when there is a death in the family or something. I used to not call him when he worked because I could never remember when it was safe to call."

"How the temperature miraculously stayed the same, 24/7."

"I’m the last child to move out. I guess what surprised me was how much my dad cared for his children. Mother told me how he’d cried for days because I could have stayed longer but decided to start my life. Never really dawned on me how much he loves us."