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Imagining the impending separation can evoke feelings of sadness and anxiety.

Mental simulations may help parents think through uncertainties and prepare for challenges.

The anticipation of the empty nest can be worse than the actual experience of it.

At the end of the summer, many families will be dropping their children off at college or university. There will probably be lots of big feelings: excitement and nervousness for the students, pride, sadness, and also nervousness for the parents. It’s a major change for everyone, but parents returning home to a quieter house may find the transition particularly challenging. Despite being excited about the adventure their child is embarking on, they may also experience their absence as a type of loss.

This transition is often called the “empty nest” phase. Parents’ experiences vary widely: some may feel sadness or loneliness, while others may feel a sense of relief or freedom. Some experience all of these at once. It’s perfectly natural to feel sad when the house feels emptier.

For some parents, though, the worry starts long before the car pulls away from campus. They may have been feeling it since the acceptance letter arrived. Of course they were excited about the news, and high school graduation was a reason to celebrate, but after that they may have been pre-emptively missing their child, even as they sat at the dinner table with them. They might have been feeling so nostalgic about every family outing—the last camping trip before college, the last family road trip, the end of the Sunday dinners—that they weren’t able to fully........

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