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In Sudbury, an older Labradoodle named Reuben has been dragging himself up three flights of stairs and plopping himself in front of Kerani Verma’s room — vacant since she left for the University of Delaware — and just waiting. Gracie, a Newton goldendoodle, has put herself on a hunger strike since sisters Rachel and Emma Brown left for post-grad life and Tufts. She spends her nights snoozing near their empty beds. As for Wyatt, a yellow Lab in West Roxbury, he’s been sitting at the base of the staircase, listening for the command he’s been hearing for years — “Go...

Hi FRiends, Boy do I need someone to talk to. Just came back from dropping off my daughter at college and the empty house is making me cry so much. Been a member since 2004. This is my first post. So sorry but I can't stop feeling sad and hurting inside because I miss her so much. I respect you all so much and value your comments. Some are harsh, but most are honest and decent. So maybe I can drown my heart-ache reading your thoughts. Sincerely, bicyclerepair--Ft. Lauderdale

I love my son dearly, and I was looking forward to seeing him, but I couldn't face another summer living with him. For six months, it had been an ongoing topic of discussion. But by May of this year it was abundantly clear that the time had come for our 23-year-old son, Flannery, a UCSB graduate in film, to get a place of his own. I live and teach creative writing to college students in Alabama during the academic year. It's not ideal living 2,200 miles from my husband, but it's what we do to make a dent in the...

BERKELEY — So much for the empty nest blues. A University of California, Berkeley, study that tracked the relationships of dozens of women has found evidence that marriages improve once the kids have flown the coop. The study, conducted by UC Berkeley's Institute of Personality & Social Research, followed the marital ups and downs of some 100 women through early marriage, child-rearing and, in many cases, divorces, remarriages and domestic partnerships. Researchers gauged participants' levels of satisfaction with their marriages at ages 43, when most had children at home; 52, when children were starting to leave home; and 61, when...

Empty Nest Syndrome May Not Be Bad After All, Study Finds ScienceDaily (Feb. 21, 2008) — One day they are crawling, the next day they are driving and then suddenly they aren’t kids anymore. As children reach adulthood, the parent-child relationship changes as parents learn to adapt to newly independent children. A new study by a University of Missouri professor explored the differences in how mothers and fathers interacted with their young adult children. She found there were few differences in the way mothers and fathers felt and that many of the changes were positive, despite the perception that mothers...

'Helicopter parents' still hover even as grads pound pavement By Eleanor Yang Su STAFF WRITER July 5, 2007 Rowena Paz's parents did everything they could to help her land a good job after college. They edited her résumé, suggesting experience she should play up or cut out. Her mother called regularly to remind Paz, 21, to get enough sleep before interviews. Her father coached her with interview questions and drove her to three job interviews in Los Angeles, because “driving in Los Angeles is tension-filled.” It came naturally for Paz's parents, who for years shuttled her to music and karate...

FReeper advice sought. Hubby and I are "empty nest" types, and we need information on which states are pro-gun and which are anti-gun. We may eventually relocate, and this info will help us decide where to start looking. Thanks. E.C.

When birds return to the empty nest Most parents don't anticipate stress when adult kids move back home By Michelle Dynes rep2@wyomingnews.com Published in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle CHEYENNE - Milestones of adulthood are usually defined as securing a full-time job, becoming financially independent, getting married and leaving the parents' home. But more and more adults are finding themselves returning to the family nest, and often it isn't expected. Meghan Breen never thought she'd be living with her parents again after becoming an adult. But gas leaks and an unreasonable landlord pushed Meghan, her husband, Jeff Wood, and their daughter Sophia,...