Ep. 291: Navigating Post-Parenting Transitions: Finding Yourself Again
Parenting Great Kids with Dr. Meg Meeker
Dr. Meg Meeker
4.6 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 8 September 2025
⏱️ 35 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
What happens when the kids no longer need you 24/7?
In this heartfelt episode of Parenting Great Kids with Dr. Meg Meeker, we dive deep into the emotional and identity-shifting journey that many mothers face when transitioning from full-time parenting into the next chapter of their lives.
Dr. Meg sits down with Karen Johnson, a former educator, stay-at-home mom, and author of What Do I Want to Be When They Grow Up?. Together, they unpack what it means to grieve the end of hands-on motherhood while rediscovering purpose, passions, and personal identity.
Whether your children are in high school, heading off to college, or already out of the house, this episode offers compassionate, real-world advice for embracing life beyond daily parenting.
In this episode, we discuss:
- The silent identity crisis many moms face after full-time parenting
- Why it’s okay to grieve while still feeling grateful
- How guilt and shame keep women stuck—and how to break free
- The power of strong friendships and finding your tribe
- Practical steps to dream again and prioritize your own self-care
- Reframing motherhood as a journey with many chapters—not a single role
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About Karen Johnson
Karen Johnson is a former teacher turned stay-at-home mom and now the author of What Do I Want to Be When They Grow Up?. Her work encourages mothers to reflect, reset, and reignite their sense of self as they move into a new phase of motherhood
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Your first great love story is free when you sign up for a free 30-day trial at audible.co. |
| 0:05.5 | That's audible.co.uk slash wondery. |
| 0:11.8 | What happens when the kids don't need you like they used to? |
| 0:19.6 | For so many moms, me included, the |
| 0:22.6 | transition from full-time parent to rediscovering your own identity can feel overwhelming and a little |
| 0:30.3 | lonely. This is Parenting Great Kids with Dr. Meg meeker. Karen Johnson, better known as the 21st century stay-at-home mom, is a former teacher turning |
| 0:43.1 | parenting writer and author of, Listen to This Great. |
| 0:47.2 | What do I want to be when they grow up? |
| 0:50.5 | Karen, thanks so much for joining me today. |
| 0:53.1 | Thank you so much for having me. I'm happy to be here. Basically, I was with my kids a lot growing up. Karen, thanks so much for joining me today. Thank you so much for having me. I'm happy to be |
| 0:55.3 | here. Basically, I was with my kids a lot growing up, but the transition from having, and we had |
| 1:01.7 | for going from even my oldest to kindergarten to first grade and then my last out of college, |
| 1:09.3 | it's hard. I mean, there's sort of a grieving process that |
| 1:12.9 | you go through and there really is this identity crisis like, well, okay, you walk around the house |
| 1:19.6 | and you go, yeah, I have a job and I could do that. But I loved being able to be with my kids |
| 1:25.4 | and do things for my kids, talk to us about the transition |
| 1:30.0 | that all women go through. Sure. So I'm not there yet. I think that the reason that this |
| 1:37.2 | book sort of came to be is because I'm starting to think about what I'm going to do. My kids |
| 1:43.5 | are 16, 14, and 12. So I'm still very much in the |
| 1:47.3 | soup of, I mean, I live in my minivan. We are driving 900 races every day. But they are at school |
| 1:54.7 | all day. I did walk away from my teaching career a long time ago to be a stay-at-home mom. And I just started having |
| 2:02.0 | conversations. I've had several girlfriends who are older and who have gone through what I've |
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