Escape To The Gateway!

Brunch With or Without The Kids.

Whether its playschool, primary, secondary or waving goodbye to your teen heading off to college, this can be a lonely time of year.

Regardless of their age or how long they are going to be away from you,  any change in the routine you have lived by,  makes you question your purpose and your place in their lives.

We want them to miss us  and yet our role is to raise independent confident offspring that barely throw us a backward glance regardless of what new education door they enter.

I should add here that  there are a few parents Donegal Mammy knows who jumped up and down and celebrated when their kids went to school/left home etc!!.

Everyone is different..

In search of suitable #emptynest escapism this Donegal Mammy found herself in  The Inishowen Gateway Hotel Buncrana  and discovered  the new Brunch At The Gateway menu and the perfect solution to empty nest or back to school woes.

Served in the Lough View Bar from 10 to 1 Monday to Friday enjoy amazing home bakes and pancakes, great coffee ( two for the price of one) , plenty of parking both for the cars outside  and the buggy’s inside plus great baby changing facilities, if you are still in charge of a little someone during the day!

I met some other mammy there and a few camera shy daddy , all enjoying a respite before they collected the kids from school or making plans for their child free hours!

Check out the photos from my visit then read on  BELOW  to discover 3 simple suggestions to help you handle new changes, child free times and empty nest  in your life.

Top 3 Tips To Cope With Starting School, Child Free Days and Empty Nest In Your Life

TALK TO SOMEONE

Chances are, that others that you know are feeling exactly like you are.

Talk to others in the same situation about how you feel, don’t be ashamed or embarrassed , their leaving moving on to another stage of their “future world” challenges the role you held.

Talking about it , sharing coping mechanisms will make it easier for you and will help others in the same boat as you. Also don’t forget your partner is feeling it too, a change in the family dynamics has an effect on everyone… even the dog might be more miserable with no one around!

PLAN AHEAD

If you work outside the home then that might be the rock that you cling to, to make yourself busy and bury the experience. The thing is the change in your children’s life can be the perfect time to plan a change in yours. If there’s a few years to go before they leave for college then start planning now what you want to do with your life when they go. Maybe consider taking up that hobby you never had time for or further education, who says you can’t go back to college now too?

Look at this time as one filled with opportunities and adventures, you just have to plan out what they are .

Now is the time to think more about YOU and maybe be a bit more selfish about what you want and need.

FILL YOUR DIARY

With plans made for the future , don’t forget to focus on the day to day empty moments that might make you feel miserable.

Meet up with friends for a walk, plan a trip to the cinema, join a night class anything that keeps you busy , filling your life with new experiences.

Try to remember what you used to do before the kids filled your entire days and weeks.

Remember they will be home soon with uneaten sandwiches in their lunch boxes, rants about how far their locker is from their class and bags of dirty washing from a hard week of partying (sorry studying!) from college.

Enjoy watching them grow and learn while they are little!

Enjoy watching them grow and then,

Its time for you, time to plan for tomorrow,

time to reinvent Donegal Mammy.

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