Family

How to cope with empty nest syndrome

It can be difficult when your child leaves home. Here's how to cope with empty nest syndrome ... and make the most of what comes next.

Coping as an empty nester: 'Stuck with one foot in the past and one in the future'

Being an empty nester means feeling discombobulated, stuck with one foot in the past and one in the future. Eleanor Mills is trying to enjoy both

How to survive Mother's Day if you are childless not by choice

Advice on how to get through that most triggering of days from women in the Childless Not By Choice (CNBC) community

How to manage Christmas with a loved one with dementia

The busyness and general chaos of Christmas is wonderful, but can also be overwhelming for all of us. That’s even more true for people living with dementia. Here’s how to help them make it as enjoyable and safe as possible. 

Helen Paris and Leslie Hill

“We have experienced being looked through, looked past or hidden away entirely”

As a young lesbian woman in the eighties, there were no older women couples Helen Paris could look as role models. Now married to her partner of 27 years, she questions whether lesbian couples are any more visible and recognised all these decades later.

Welcome to the parent grief club 

When Kerensa Jennings’ beloved mum died, she became a member of a club she never knew existed or wanted to join, and was left wondering why more people don’t talk about the special searing grief of losing a parent.

'My Mother Saw Parenthood as an Affliction'

When she was eight years old, Leah McLaren’s mother left family life for a glamorous job in the city. In this extract from her memoir, Leah reflects on her mother's ambivalent feelings towards parenthood now that she herself is a mother.

How Parents Can Support Their Child Through an Eating Disorder

Throughout her late teen years, Megan Ravenhall found herself in the grip of an eating disorder. Though she feels she has still not fully recovered, Megan reflects on how her parents' support led her to ultimately choose life.

Picture: ITV/Shutterstock

Love Island, porn and Generation XXX

ITV's Love Island glorifies a culture of sex without feelings. But there is a very dark side to all this and it's time we addressed it writes Eleanor Mills.

How I gave up school gate politics

The actress Salima Saxton lost her way on the children's playground...until she ditched the Instagram mum lifestyle.

Adopting in midlife: It wasn't what I thought

Margaret Reynolds thought embarking on parenting in midlife would be a personal journey. It was so much more than that...

Poems for midlife

Allie Esiri's collection A Poet for Every Day of the Year features poems for life's big and little moments. We excerpt ones for empty nest, hope, love and more

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