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Parents are involved in their children's lives (well, good parents are). Parents love and support their children (well, good parents do). When children move out of the home and on to college, parents miss them terribly (well, you get where this is going). It's more than missing the child; there's a sense that the parent has lost something important in her life (it's somewhat more prevalent in women). Something similar happens when the child gets married.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'' Season 5 premiere "Schooled!", Mr. Loud is hit with this pretty hard since his and Mrs. Loud's oldest child, Lori, moves out to leave for college while their youngest child, Lily, is finally old enough to go to preschool (and thus be in school for a large part of the day).

* In ''Manga/BoardingSchoolJuliet'', Mrs. Percia visits her daughter during the school festival as a surprise, and is a little hurt (though understanding) when she finds out that Juliet already made plans with her boyfriend.

* In ''Manga/AsteroidInLove'', Shiori's initial objection for Ao [[spoiler:to stay in town]] is partly due to this; she specifically notes that no parent would like to part with their children.

* ''Fanfic/TheDimensionalDrifter'': After her husband Yusho disappeared, Yoko started picking up all sorts of strays, including people. That's how Judai got dragged in the family, and later Sora and Johan. Other characters have noticed this tendency, but they keep quiet about it.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Cinderella}}'', this is why the King is so eager for his son to marry and [[IWantGrandkids give him grandchildren.]] Now that the Prince is grown up and often away from home (and his mother the Queen is presumably [[MissingMom dead]]), the King is lonely, and misses having a child to dote on and play with.
* ''WesternAnimation/AnExtremelyGoofyMovie'' has Goofy suffering from this bad. He's so distracted by his son, Max, leaving for college that he ends up fired from his job, and has to go back to school to get a degree to get a better job... the same school Max is attending. Once there, Goofy promptly keeps trying to baby Max, losing focus on his studies, [[ParentalHypocrisy something he warned Max to avoid.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverseTheMovie'' has the Diamonds suffer from this. Having become attached to Steven during the TimeSkip, and since he is Pink Diamond's son and therefore Yellow and Blue's nephew and White's grandson he is the closest thing they have to [[ReplacementGoldfish remember her by]]. When Steven announces he is returning to Earth at the beginning of the film they beg him to stay so they can continue adoring him. Towards the ending, about one day later, they show up on Earth unannounced declaring they have come to live with ''him'' instead.

* Inverted in ''Literature/PocketMonstersTheAnimation''. 29 year old Delia had her son Ash at [[TeenPregnancy age 19]]. He leaves to go on a Pokemon journey at age 10. While she loves him, she holds a slight level of resentment towards him and is glad to have him out the house so that she can live her youth.

* ''Series/RumpoleOfTheBailey'': Rumpole and Hilda are going through this in "Rumpole and the Married Lady" with their son having graduated college, gotten married and emigrated to America. Hilda worries about the state of their marriage, even lamenting that without their son around then what did that make them? Rumpole has slumped into depression at the start, having not gone to work at chambers for some time and just sitting around in his dressing gown all day. It is a bitter divorce case that Rumpole has to deal with in court that manages to break them out of it, making them realize their own troubles are not so bad.

* ''ComicStrip/ForBetterOrForWorse'': Twice. But not for April, [[TheUnfavorite because she's a c***]]. Also, she doesn't manage to get old enough in time.

* Linda begins to suffer this in the 13th season ''WesternAnimation/BobsBurgers'' episode "Mother Author Laser Pointer." The thought of her kids eventually going to college drives Linda to despair. When author Bea Cromwell is forced to wait for a tow truck at the restaurant, Linda tries to badger her into writing more of the "Snail & Newt" children's books so she can relive reading them to the kids when they were younger. Linda's zealousness on pushing this results in her cancelling Bea's tow behind her back, and when the woman finds out she grows scared for her wellbeing. As Linda grows more unhinged and desperate to prove she doesn't mean Bea any harm she takes her car keys. It escalates to Bea delivering a lecture on how kids are supposed to grow up and leave while keeping Linda in a headlock until the tow arrives.

-->'''Marge:''' Oh, my God. Lisa and Maggie! It's going to happen with all of them! Bart is just the beginning. One by one...all my babies will leave the nest. I'm going to lose all of them. [...] My time as a mom will eventually come to an end. I'll have to fill my days with a bunch of stupid hobbies. ''I don't want an Etsy storefront!''

-->'''Marge:''' My time as a mom will eventually come to an end. I'll have to fill my days with a bunch of stupid hobbies. ''I don't want an Etsy storefront!''

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' deals with this in the episode "A Mid-Childhood Night's Dream," in which [[AdventuresInComaland Marge's subconscious grapples with the recent problem of realizing that Bart is growing up]]. This being a DreamEpisode, this is at one point literally depicted by Marge standing in the ruins of the crumbling family home, which resembles a bird's nest.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Cinderella}}'', this is why the King is so eager for his son to marry and [[IWantGrandchildren give him grandchildren.]] Now that the Prince is grown up and often away from home (and his mother the Queen is presumably [[MissingMom dead]]), the King is lonely, and misses having a child to dote on and play with.

Parents are involved in their children's lives (well, good parents are). Parents love and support their children (well, good parents do). When children move out of the home and on to college, parents miss them terribly (well, you get where this is going). It's more than missing the child, there's a sense that the parent has lost something important in her life (it's somewhat more prevalent in women). Something similar happens when the child gets married.

->'''Char:''' There they go...\\

* A lot of ''{{Anime/Pokemon}}'' fics depict Ash's mother Delia as undergoing this after her son leaves for his Pokémon journey.
** ''Fanfic/TilDeathDoUsPart'' starts with Delia feeling depressed after her son Ash leaves on a Pokemon journey. She's spent the last ten years revolving around him, so having him absent in her life causes a hole.

** ''Fanfic/PokemonResetBloodlines'': Delia (again) has a mild case of this, even though Ash has only been away for a few months. She seems to handle it well, all things considered, and she's very happy to have him and his female companions for a few months for a a few reasons.

* ''Fanfic/TilDeathDoUsPart'' starts with Delia feeling depressed after her son Ash leaves on a Pokemon journey. She's spent the last ten years revolving around him, so having him absent in her life causes a hole.

* In the ''Pokemon'' fic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/6922714/1/The-Evolution-of-Delia-Ketchum-Aide The Evolution of Delia Ketchum, Aide]]'', Ash's mother Delia suffers from this. Ash left a few years ago and she still doesn't know what to do with herself. She decides to go back to doing what she did before having her son: being a Pokémon Researcher assistant.

* ''Fanfic/PokemonResetBloodlines'': Delia (again) has a mild case of this, even though Ash has only been away for a few months. She seems to handle it well, all things considered, and she's very happy to have him and his female companions for a few months for a a few reasons.

* Inverted in ''LightNovel/PocketMonstersTheAnimation''. 29 year old Delia had her son Ash at [[TeenPregnancy age 19]]. He leaves to go on a Pokemon journey at age 10. While she loves him, she holds a slight level of resentment towards him and is glad to have him out the house so that she can live her youth.

* ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'': In the PSA about moving out, Sarge suffers from this after Simmons, Grif, and Lopez move out of Red Base. As a result, he starts talking to himself in the way Grif and Simmons would in order to cope with the loneliness. Luckily for him, they come back after realizing they're far from prepared to live on their own.

Contrast BasementDweller, where a grown-up child overstays his welcome, although it doesn't always guarantee this trope won't happen when the day finally comes.

* The mother in ''ComicStrip/{{Zits}}'' has been preparing for this forever, although in one strip when Jeremy is out for the weekend and she and her husband get some "alone time"] she admits any Empty Nest Syndrome she may get when Jeremy leaves for college will probably be short-lived.

* In ''Series/FullerHouse'', Aunt Becky starts fawning over DJ's infant son after her own two twins go off to college.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'' Season 5 premiere "Schooled!", Mr. Loud is hit with this pretty hard since his oldest child, Lori, leaves for college, and his youngest child, Lily, is attending preschool.