Empty Nest Syndrome

A syndrome is a collection of symptoms and causes which results in some kind of mental health problems. Syndromes mostly are connected to the medical science.

There are many syndromes. One of these is called “Empty Nest Syndrome“. We will be talking about it in this post.

As the name suggests, a nest is a home to the bird’s chicks. The birds make nests exclusively to lay eggs, hatching them and provide shelter and food to the chicks till the time they are not independent.

Once the chicks are strong then they fly out of the nest and start with trial and error the independent lives. Outside the nest, the parents keep caring them for a while.

Birds contrary to the common belief, don’t live in the nests. The nests are constructed only during breeding time.

Due to this belief, humans equate the homes to the nests. Parents and children all live in it. The bond between them is very strong because of living under a common roof, sharing food, together watching, learning and doing other things humans do.

As the children grow, they go out for studies and then getting jobs and becoming independent individuals. In this process, a day comes when all the children leave the house leaving behind parents. This is to some extent akin to emptying the nest.

Whereas birds don’t grieve over the empty nests, the human beings take it to heart. Mothers especially feel alone and life suddenly seems to have lost its purpose. Some mothers can cry and become stressful after their loved ones are gone away.

Although they are not the first nor will be the last whose children have left them. They themselves once had left their parent’s home to begin their own independent journey. And this goes on.

In the modern times research indicates that in a way when children leave, it is an opportunity for the parents to rediscover their bond which after the birth of the children had lost amidst the rearing of the children. So they can enjoy their togetherness once again although may not be physically.

There is another viewpoint also. For those couples in which each individual is fiercely independent and happy with self, it is the children which are like slats to keep the blinds together. So when the children leave, they can find time and freedom to enjoy their individual lives.