Unless there is a terrible parent/kid relationship, I think most parents would pay just about anything to have 2 more years of their kids home with them. It’s part of life that kids grow up and move on and ultimately we want that for them, but I just can’t imagine essentially giving up the last 2 years of that time with them.
Everyone has their own needs and every situation is different though.
I'm going to make a general statement, and this is not reflective of the OP nor his specific situation/circumstances -
If you haven't done right by your kids as a parent ( or as parents) from ages 0-16, then trying to salvage that from ages 16-18 probably won't redeem the situation.
Do you know what the worst "booby prize" a parent can give to a child? When that child gets out of college, then that kid has to earn and eat the stress of being the parent(s) full retirement plan.
Look at the other thread that happened over a month ago. Father was the sole breadwinner. Wife wouldn't work. Wife kept pressuring husband to earn and kept demanding circumstances that didn't add up practically. If the father dies in that scenario, then what happens? Well the 15 year old son is forced to grow up fast and be the primary breadwinner. He's now the full retirement plan for the mother. Welcome to the real world kid.
So the parents having financial security / making good career decisions is also IMHO about creating that opportunity for young people to go live a young person's life.
My godson actually didn't want to leave me. What I mean is, my health is in such a poor state now, that he felt obligated to stay behind. Even though I have the means for full time medical care / assistance , etc, etc. There are two sides of this coin. On one hand, the relentless brutal hours and stress for decade after decade in the grind did a heavy number on my health. And I actually made strong efforts to take care of my health too. And the flip side is all that heavy work created the financial leverage where my godson has real choices and he's not beholden to take care of me in old age because there are no other pathways. I wanted my godson to be free and be young. Is there are part of me that wanted him to stay? Of course. But I understand he needs to be around people his own age, to have fun and garner experiences and learn from his own mistakes without this old man looking over his shoulder.
There is a real wall for most people in the work force past age 50. Those in some kind of public service don't see it the same way. It's hard for a teacher or someone on the government dole to really understand the level of savagery and ruthlessness of the private sector if they haven't been there for a long time ( or at all)
One thing I can say for certain, I will never be a financial burden for my godson. So a father taking care of his career now at 48, the timeline of the OP, can be, in a roundabout way, a positive thing for the long term for the entire family.
Sometimes I think there needs to be a recalibration in what it means to have disappointment in a family dynamic. Moving away 600 miles and having to leave your friends and routine behind isn't ideal for a teenager, but you still have a roof over your head, food on your table, and your family is still together. I distinctly remember my 13th birthday. I got my head slammed into the kitchen wall. Then into a fridge. Then my drunk father proceeded to kick me while I was on the ground. I could hear the click. My mother shutting the door to the bedroom to pretend none of it was happening. My crime? Being born. I honestly don't think some of you really understand it when I say, "At least you will be together with your family, even when it's not thick, but all you have is the thin"
Why isn't being together enough?
Something I've always tried to remember is that while life isn't fair, odds are it was more fair to me than most people who have ever lived on this planet. And even while I was sleeping in the streets and eating out of garbage cans, there were still a billion people in the world that would rather trade places with me than what they had in their own lives.
I'd write a check for ten millions dollars tonight, to be able to go back in time, to an ideal world, where I could sit down to a home cooked meal, and to know that my parents wanted me and loved me and wanted the best for me, even if all we had was squalor. If any of you have that right now, the pure simplicity of "being together", then you are far wealthier in this life than I will ever be.
If being together is not enough, even if it's hard, then those people involved might want to rethink on what it really means to be a family.