ONLY DAUGHTER MAY MOVE TO AUSTRALIA

My only daughter met a really nice Australian man on her gap year five years ago.

He moved to England to be with her, and they married two years ago.

But he now says he wants to move back to Australia to live near his family, including his older sister, who’s just had a baby.

My husband and I are absolutely devastated. As a family we’ve always been so close, and she’s my biggest support and best friend.

We speak on the phone several times a day and I’d be utterly lost without her.

What if they end up having children over there and stay for good? I’m devastated. How do I cope with this?

Oh this is a hard one and I can almost imagine how you feel.

My youngest daughter keeps saying she wants to move out by this time next year and I’m heartbroken at the thought – and she only wants to move up the road!

It is so, so hard, but you have to let them live their life.

Try to not make her feel guilty and don’t tell her how devastated you are because this is such an exciting chapter for her. We’re very lucky now in that we have social media and Skype.

I’m always moaning about social media and phones, but at times like this they’re brilliant. You can speak to them often and fly over to see them, and they can still fly home and see you. Who knows, they could move there and she might feel homesick and want to come back.

I do feel your pain, though, because our kids will always be our babies and it’s hard to let them go. At the same time, take heart that you’ve been a great mum and it’s fantastic you’ve brought up this independent young woman who wants to go off and live her life.