Ok so I haven’t written about me being a mom in quite a while and if I’m honest with myself it’s because I’m being selfish. My writing is when I’m alone in bed after a long day of working, being a mom, being a girlfriend, a confidante, etc… I am these things every day. These things rule my thoughts, my emotions, my soul..basically my life. I’m okay with that.
So now that I started this article for a whole other reason and I’ve gone completely left, let me go back to the title.
You are not a single parent if the other parent supports your child with emotion, with financial help or with physical time. Do us a favor and stop declaring yourself a single parent if you get any of those three. You get help, you get a day or a few to be “off duty”, you both discipline her, you make decisions together (at least I hope), your child’s personality has a chance to have both of you in it.
But guess what, not all people are that lucky.
Think about it… I’m sure we all know someone who is a TRUE single parent. Someone whose child hasn’t met, spoken to or even seen their other parent. That is a single mother or single father someone who can’t even get $1/week because that person has beat the system and is missing.
Don’t get me wrong I’m very aware that there are situations where maybe you are getting “help” but it comes with complexity. I obviously am not speaking to every single parent. We all have our own situations; good, bad, crazy, sporadic… whatever it may be.
But think about it…what if your child didn’t even know there other parent. That one person had to make all the decisions, one person bear all the financial responsibilities, one person that had to raise a respectful adult. Even 2 parents that are raising their child together question if they’re doing it right. Now imagine one. Yeah, exactly…so let’s just try to be a little more sensitive, a little more appreciative, a little more compassionate, a little less judgemental of each other. Just try it.
XO -JC
