By Saleem Rana
Interview by Allen Cardoza and Dr. Melody Foxx
June 25, 2012
Christie Mellor, the author of a hilarious new book, “Fun without Dick and Jane: Your Guide to a Delightfully Empty Nest,” spoke to Allen Cardoza, from Answers for the Family blog, and Dr. Melody Foxx on their trendy weekly radio show on L.A. Talk Radio.
Allen introduced Christie as the best-selling author of “The Three-Martini Playdate,” a book that first helped parents adjust to their grief when kids left home.
The success of her first book was followed by other books that continued with the theme of helping parents discover a life of their own after their children left home for college. “The Three-Martini Family Vacation,” “Raised by Wolves: Clues to the Mysteries of Adulthood,” and “You Look Fine, Really,” quickly developed a large readership.
Her entertaining books, which she calls “rants,” have been published in The Guardian, Junior Magazine, and the Sunday Express in Great Britain; in Sunday Life Magazine in Australia; and in the Huffington Post in the U.S.
She has also been interviewed on Britain’s BBC radio and American Public Radio’s Marketplace; as well as reviewed in top publications like Newsweek, Us Magazine, The New York Times, and People magazine.
Advice for Parents
The humorous author encourages parents to be thrilled about the opportunity to reclaim their own dreams when their kids finally leave home. They should be grateful to get their own lives back and happy that their children are moving on to college.
Her basic message is that children do eventually grow up and leave home. Instead of bemoaning their absence, parents now had the time to rekindle forgotten dreams.
She shared tips on how parents can adjust to their empty-nest phase in life. She also shared stories about parents who did not adjust to the change well. She mentioned one mother who moved into an apartment near her daughter’s college and another mother who installed a GPS application on her son’s cell phone to keep track of his whereabouts in college.
Moving Back Home after College
The interview wound up on the topic of what happens when children can’t find a job after college and move back home. Christie suggested that parents should not enable their children but encourage them to grow up and become independent despite a challenging economy.
