Did you constantly worry when your kids first left home?

[Beth75]

I am a very anxious person and I worried very much about my children when they left. When the oldest left for college, it was very hard. By the time my anxiety began to ease and I started to trust him to take care of himself, it was time for my second child to leave! You'd have thought I would have been prepared but it was the same thing again. I must have seemed very silly, sending him care packages and calling him every weekend. Now that he's becoming more mature and finding his footing in life, my anxieties are beginning to ease but I think I will always worry a little bit.
Did anybody experience anything similar? Do you still worry about your kids even though they've been gone for a while?

[haidyl]

The interesting bit is that every parent will naturally worry about that kid that just left home. I constantly worried about my eldest daughter when she left for college and it took a while for me to realize that she was now an adult that could take care of herself. 

[horizon]

Sometimes I laugh at myself, thinking of how we can always find things to worry about. It's easy to think of the bad things when everything seems fine. I still tell my worries to the children when I can't hold it in, but I try not to focus on it too much. Staying positive and looking for the solution is better than focusing on the negative things, right?

How do you manage your anxiety so far?

[Marie]

I can totally relate. My eldest has been gone for a few years, but my youngest has only been gone a year.

Even though they are adults, they are at the age where they think they know everything, so it's really difficult not to worry about them.  I think I will always worry about my kids some, but I'm struggling with how much anxiety I have right now.  I just have to hope that I've imparted enough wisdom to them and trust that they will come to me when/if they need some advice or help.

[Guineagirl]

I worry.  I don’t worry about the cooking meals or chores. I worry about her just being happy and liking her job which she doesn’t at the moment.  I will always worry.  My mother in law years ago said to me you never stop worrying no matter what age children are.  How right she was.  I found this wonderful image on google of an old lady she looked in her eighties on the phone listening to her daughter,  the daughter must of been in her sixties, it was a lovely image.  X