Jul 13, 2026 · 25 min · 9 segments
For most mums, the day their kids leave feels like a victory. You might even be planning what you'll do with all that free time. No more mountains of laundry, arguments over dinner or acting as a…
Yumi StynesHostFeliceGuest
Victoria MillerGuest
That feeling of your son ditching you for his girlfriend is common in mother-son relationships.
Janet was also missing the feeling of being useful that she had when her son was living at home.
This sounds a bit ridiculous, but I used to make him lunch every day [laughs] to take to uni, because I didn't want him eating junk.
[laughs] I think my role in the world felt like it had lost a role.
There was a, a bit of a hole there where that role used to be.
[gentle music] Colleagues would come up to me at work and say, "Hey, how's it going?" And I'd just wave them away and say, "Please, please don't ask-
... and I'd start crying."
This is Felice from Melbourne again, our mum of two adult sons who rudely abandoned her to pursue their hopes and dreams.
The one time she remembers crying in her adult life was when her sister died, but after her sons left, she was knocking around in an empty house and bursting into tears all the time.
I couldn't stop it.
[laughs] I felt really dysfunctional for a while.
I was so pathetic, you know?
Oh, it was-
Oh, yeah.
It was full on, and I guess because I don't have a partner as well, I felt guilty.
I'm like, "Have I relied on them too much?"
That feeling of your son ditching you for his girlfriend is common in mother-son relationships.
Janet was also missing the feeling of being useful that she had when her son was living at home.
This sounds a bit ridiculous, but I used to make him lunch every day [laughs] to take to uni, because I didn't want him eating junk.
[laughs] I think my role in the world felt like it had lost a role.
There was a, a bit of a hole there where that role used to be.
[gentle music] Colleagues would come up to me at work and say, "Hey, how's it going?" And I'd just wave them away and say, "Please, please don't ask-
... and I'd start crying."
This is Felice from Melbourne again, our mum of two adult sons who rudely abandoned her to pursue their hopes and dreams.
The one time she remembers crying in her adult life was when her sister died, but after her sons left, she was knocking around in an empty house and bursting into tears all the time.
I couldn't stop it.
[laughs] I felt really dysfunctional for a while.
I was so pathetic, you know?
Oh, it was-
Oh, yeah.
It was full on, and I guess because I don't have a partner as well, I felt guilty.
I'm like, "Have I relied on them too much?"
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