When you’re not needed as much

When you’re not needed as much

From Doing It For The Kids by Doing It For The Kids, Frankie Tortora, Steve Folland

June 11, 2026 · 22 min · Episode 132

About this episode

The episode discusses the challenges of feeling less needed by children while facing a decline in freelance work, leading to an identity crisis.

“I’m a freelance writer and have less work than I’ve had for the 6 years I’ve been freelance — but at the same time my youngest child has just started walking to school by himself. I’m struggling a bit with the fact I’m going to be needed less and less by my kids and don’t have the work to fill my time and give me that sense of purpose. I appreciate a lot of parents might want to scream at me for complaining about children being more independent 😬 but I’m having a whole new identity crisis with the combination of these two things. How do I navigate this new phase?? How do I regain a sense of purpose when I increasingly feel no longer needed?”

People in this episode

Hosts: Frankie Tortora, Steve Folland

Topics covered

  • parenting
  • identity crisis
  • freelancing
  • independence
  • work-life balance

Keywords

  • freelance writer
  • parenting
  • independence
  • identity crisis
  • work-life balance

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