Kip Stewart is facing an empty nest… and missing his three active boys… all of them are now grown and gone.

Kip Stewart says, “The tree house has been here almost as long as we’ve been here, since they were 4, 5, 6… They would actually have pinecone fights, somebody’d get up in the tree house and try and defend it, and the other people would pelt them with pinecones… but now it sits back here and it’s pretty forlorn, just sits back here empty, nobody playing with it.”

We know that some moms experience depression when their children move away… but research shows that dads can take it hard too. Why? Because there can be an element of regret when they leave.

George Stahnke, counselor, Focus on the Family says, “Most men are gone more than what they would like to be. Just because of the demands on his time – he has to provide. But at the same time making use of the time when it is there, being focused, being very deliberate – to minimize those regrets is important.”

Kip says, “I look back at some things that I’ve done and said, and going boy that wasn’t very affirming, and ya know, what do they need, they need affirmation.”

For those fathers who still have children at home—take a lesson from Kip… enjoy every moment you have with your kids. It doesn’t take long for those pinecone wars to be replaced with photo albums, memories, and empty bedrooms.