The Quiet Years start when your child doesn't need you in the same way anymore. They're walking to school alone. Spending more time in their bedroom. Going out with friends. Choosing not to come food shopping with you. It happens slowly, and then one day you're doing something you used to do together and you realise how different it feels now.

That's where it starts.

In this episode Sarah talks about what The Quiet Years actually are, why this stage gets missed, and why it matters that we start talking about it now.

https://sarahtilsley.com/podcast/

The Quiet Years: Becoming Unhidden as a parent.

What happens when your kids start needing you less, when they start being more independent and suddenly have way too much time on your hands?

No one tells you what’s next for you do they?

The Quiet Years is a podcast about the strange quieter space parents tend to find themselves in and they suddenly don’t know what to do with themselves anymore.

Your life might look fine.

Nothing has fallen apart.

Things are just changing right now.

And you just feel off don’t you?

Each month on The Quiet Years, we will talk about what this stage is, what is going on, about identity after your role as a parent changes, the quiet grief that can come with being needed less and the slow process of becoming yourself again.

I’m Sarah Tilsley, and this is The Quiet Years, a podcast about becoming unhidden as a parent.