Within the next year, Sparky and I will have our house all to ourselves and people keep saying that I’ll be an ’empty nester’ soon. I just don’t like that term. It makes it sound like I shoved them out of my house and never saw them again, you know, like birds do. Well, I’m not like that. I still feel the need to ‘mom’ them from time to time, so I’ve decided that empty nester doesn’t really fit me at all. I’ve decided I’m more of a Free-Range Mom.

I read this article a while back about parents that let their kids go wherever they want and do whatever they want pretty much whenever they want, and they call them free-range kids. I think that’s kind of what it’s like when the kids move out. You’re still a mom; you just aren’t obligated to be at their beck and call anymore. You can decide when you wanna mom and when you don’t: Free-Range Mom!

Besides, empty nester just sounds like it’s loaded with responsibility, and I try to avoid anything associated with that word!