Whatever the circumstances may be, you are raising your child or children alone. What’s next? What changes when you are a single parent versus a dual parent household? Good news! You can be an excellent single parent. You may be a bit busier than the other parents and you may have to learn time management skills, but you can do it and you can raise outstanding young adults.
Community
It has been said many times before that it takes a village or a community to raise a child. I believe that this is true. No matter if you are married, in a relationship or single, it takes more than one person to raise a child successfully. Who else is in your life that is a part of your child’s life? Teachers, community leaders, religious figures, family, friends or relationship partners? In addition to providing positive influence for your children, these individuals can also serve as a support structure for you as a parent. After all, most of us need help every once in a while. If you have not surrounded yourself with a group of positive individuals to support you as a parent and to support your child’s development, begin to reach out to the individuals mentioned to build a network.
Time Management
When you are a single parent, there is no one in your household to watch the baby or your child while you take a shower, why you run to the grocery store or to help when one of your children are sick. So what do you do? What about your free time- what free time? Back to the concept of building a community, having help will help you. If money is an issue, many women use babysitting co-ops in their neighbourhoods or with the churches. Just because you are a single parent does not mean that you don’t deserve a few moments to yourself every once in a while.
In addition to help, you also need to master the concept of the household schedule. This is especially important if you have active children and you are a working parent. You need to master planning ahead, having contingency plans and working on projects whenever you have time. Single parents are often juggling many more balls in the air than a dual parent household. But if you manage your time well, you can still complete everything that you need to, you can be at your children’s functions, you can work and you can manage to have free time. It is all about the schedule.
So if you are a veteran single parent or are new to the scene, you must first ask for help. You will be surprised how many other single parents there are who are also willing to chip in with a hand. Then, you must become the master of time management. Don’t worry; you can do it and you can do it well!

Single moms have to do it all. Sometimes it’s easy to look around at the couples with or without kids and feel like no-one understands what you are going through. This is when you need help the most, and there are a lot of places you can get backup and single mom support.

Support groups are everywhere, whether it be the single parents in your neighborhood or building, the other moms who show up at the PTA meeting with baby food on their blouse, or even the parents’ group at church. Strike up a conversation and make a new friend. You might be surprised at how much you have in common with the immaculately dressed woman in 3-A when you run across her at midnight in the laundry room. When you see her bleary eyed and make-up free, in grungy sweats with her hair jammed in a scrunchie washing kid vomit out of sheets, you might just realize your worlds aren’t so far apart after all.

Many people in a mom’s life can offer a single mom support by taking turns carpooling or offering to baby-sit in shifts so she can have a chance to run errands or even just sleep for a few hours. Churches often offer a cheap alternative to standard daycare, and mother’s day out programs are great.

If you can find a group dedicated to single mom support all the better!  These loosely organized networks of single parents can help all members cope with the trials of handing kids, a job and a life on your own. They can hook you up with coupons, deals, babysitters and nannies, let you know who the best household help options are, qualify you for group rates on tickets for fun activities or just offer a few understanding shoulders to cry on when life seems too complicated.

When you are a single mom, support can just mean validation or assurance that you are doing an OK job. Parents can feel so inadequate sometimes, and wonder if they are shortchanging their kids. A group of moms going through the same things can help a lot just by reinforcing the fact that you are not alone.

If you are a single mom, support might be al you need to get that extra boost to help you through the week. Look for a support group in your area and join up today. Help is on its way!

Lets hear it for single moms! They are the unsung heroes who tough it out alone, kids in tow. They have to deal with all the normal mommy stuff, and earn a living too. I don’t know how they do it!

A single mom has to be the super-parent for her kids. With no-one else there to help on a day to day basis, she bears the brunt of making sure each one gets attention, meting out discipline and worrying about their future.

A typical day for a single mom can be hard for us to imagine. She gets up at the crack of dawn to make lunches, fix breakfast and rouse her little ones in time for the bus. Next is the mad dash out the door to drop the baby at daycare, and hurry to work.

If she’s late, an excuse of ‘the baby threw up on me and I had to change’ just won’t cut it! And she hopes she gets off work on time today - the daycare told her if she was late one more time she would have to find a new center. Why do the daycares close at 6:00?

She’s worried about her oldest; he threw up last night and still had an upset tummy this morning. If the school calls and says she has to come get him she doesn’t know what she’ll do - if she has another ‘family emergency, the boss has already told her he’ll have to let her go. She feels so guilty for making him go to school…

The light bill is overdue, because her car broke down and it took her whole paycheck just to get it running again. She knows on her lunch break she will have to go through the humiliating process of calling and asking for just one more week to pay. Sometimes she just wants to lay her head down on her desk and cry.

But she doesn’t. She picks herself up and keeps on going. Her kids are #1 in her life, and that will never change! They make everything worth it, at the end of the day. When her kids grow up, they will have a love and respect for her for doing everything for them, and doing it alone.