Jofi writes in this recent blog post, as he deals with the reality of sending both of his daughters away.

Instead of the common description of loneliness which we’ve come to associate with ’empty nest syndrome’, Jofi writes about gratitude and the incredible opportunity his daughters have, one of them heading to college, the other back out on our Winterline gap year program.

“We as parents,” he writes, “and I am including myself, a lot of the time do not realize the opportunities our daughters and/or sons are receiving and experiencing when they study or travel abroad. It is so much more than studying or traveling that they are doing, but we tend to focus on how much we will miss them. You know what? I miss them a bunch too, but I would not trade all that they are doing so they can stay home with me.”

The clarity with which he writes is something we see in a lot of our gap year parents. They know that a year straight from high school to college isn’t for everyone. If you had the opportunity to send your student child abroad, would you? (We’d love to hear from you in the comments section below.)

The opportunity to study abroad, experience the world, isn’t just about collecting another experience to put on a resume or in a cocktail story. It’s much more than that.

As Jofi puts it into context, “My “job” as a parent is to prepare them for life. Through all these experiences they are living, they are preparing themselves for what life has ahead of them. Will all the experiences be happy ones? Of course not, but life is not like that either.”