How to Let Go as Kids Grow Up, Move Out

• Talk openly and honestly about your feelings. Encourage your kids to do the same.

• Help your children plan their independent future. If you do it together, the emotional stress of separation will be easier to manage.

• Become a friend and collaborator to your adult children, but don't impose your own values.

• Adapt to your empty nest by forging new relationships with your spouse or other loved ones.

• Talk to other parents who already have been through the separation process. In most cases, this can greatly reduce the anxiety.