Young people facing the daunting move from the family home may be surprised to learn that an unsentimental 85% of parents can’t wait to re-purpose their children’s bedrooms and create new rooms like bathrooms, gyms and games rooms after they’ve gone, a survey by the AA’s Home Emergency Response Service has found.
The research, part of the AA’s State of the Nation’s Homes series of reports, shows that ‘empty-nest syndrome’ is not as prevalent as we might expect it to be.
Although most parents encourage children to keep their bedrooms clean, the most common use for an empty room is a dumping ground for clothes and other possessions, with more than one in three parents (37%) who have had a child leave home admitting to this.
Yet other parents are launching into full-scale modifications of their offspring’s bedrooms, with 17% having turned one into a gym. The creation of games rooms is also a rising trend; over a quarter (26%) of parents who have had a child fly the nest within the past five years have turned a bedroom into a games room, compared to 17% of those whose child left home 6-10 years ago and only 1% of those whose offspring left 11-20 years ago.
Children who expect a cosy night’s sleep in their old bed when they return to their childhood home will be disappointed as almost one in five (19%) parents has turned their bedroom into an extra bathroom since they left.
While the research shows that almost a third (30%) of parents haven’t saved money since their children moved out, 5% are more than £12,000 a year better off as they claim to have saved an eye-watering £1,000 or more per month on food, transport and clothes for their children.
However, around one in seven cash-strapped homeowners (15%) have rented out their children’s old room to a lodger in a bid to improve their finances even further.
Tom Stringer, Head of the AA’s Home Emergency Response Service said: “When children move out, parents get the freedom to make modifications to their home which they may have wanted to make for a while but were unable to find the space for. Adding a gym or games room to a home can be a fun project for parents, especially if they’re retired. However, I’d advise that any electrical or plumbing work is carried out by a professional.”
The study also revealed that one in three parents (36%) who have had a child leave home have turned their room into a study, 31% have turned a child’s bedroom into a guest bedroom, and 14% have created a dressing room.
