Anyone who has children knows that it is not easy to raise them and give them the best of you while also trying to deal with day to day life. This is true for all kinds of parents; married, single, stay at home, working, etc. I have been extremely lucky to be able to be a stay at home mother for the past eight years. My husband and I always believed this to be the best choice for our family, and we were fortunate enough that his job allowed for us to be able to live on one income. We know there are a lot of people for whom this is not a possibility, especially single parents. While I have always sympathized with the extra stressors and work it takes to be a single parent, I have not been close to being able to understand a little bit of that life, until recently.
Right now, my husband is living in Boston while I am living in Minnesota with our two daughters. He started a new position there a few weeks ago and until we are able to sell or rent our home here in the Twin Cities, we are living apart. That makes me single mom for the time being.
I can’t at all completely understand what the daily life of a working single parent is like. As an at home mother, I am able to get all the day to day tasks of running the household done while the girls are at school. I don’t have to wait until night or the weekends to run errands, clean, etc. But, I think I can understand now what it is like to be solely responsible for everything going on in the house. From the time I get up in the morning until my head hits the pillow at night, I need to do it all. If I don’t do it, it doesn’t get done. Truth be told, I think a lot of stay at home moms think this a lot of the time anyway, but believe me, now that my husband is not present, I appreciate what he did around the house more and more each day. And I miss having that person there to take some of the load, especially on those “bad days” we all have every once in a while.
So a big shout out to all you single moms (and dads!) out there. You deserve much more recognition than you get!
Thanks Kim! We single parents love the shout out! Never an easy job no matter what!
ReplyDeleteThinking of you a lot and hoping that the "single mom" phase ends for you soon. It sounds like you've definitely realized how fortunate you (and I) are to have a supportive husband to help out. Like you, I can't imagine how hard it would be to go at it alone full time.
ReplyDelete