Christmas is supposed to be a happy time. A time for the whole family to be together. But after divorce, when relations with your ex may be exceedingly un-festive, you will feel anything but a complete family. Even if you don’t miss your other half per se, your children will. Read more…
I’ve written before about how I have trouble asking for and accepting help. It’s an ongoing theme in my life, but this year, I feel, has been a lesson in doing just that. It’s not so much that I’m this proud, independent single mother who wants to do everything myself; Read more…
I wrote a post the other day about accepting or asking for help as a single parent. I received a couple of messages after this from people saying they knew single parents and wanted to help them, but didn’t want to appear condescending or rude by offering their help. Or Read more…
I am an introvert. I didn’t realise there was such a thing – or that I was one – until fairly recently. When I figured it out, suddenly everything fell into place. I’m sharing this because I feel like learning these things about ourselves can help us in many different Read more…
When you’re a single mother… The Centre for Social Justice bring our reports bemoaning the rise of single parent families and talking about “disposable dads” – as if you deliberately went out and tricked a man into getting you pregnant, then ditched him once you had your grubby council flat. Read more…
A while ago, I wrote a post entitled Things NEVER to Say to a Single Mother. It’s been really popular; in fact, at the time of writing it’s the third most popular post on this blog. The thing is, one lady left a comment on the post, asking what I felt Read more…
Normally on a Monday, I post a weekly weigh-in. This week, I’m posting this instead. I don’t feel like weighing myself or measuring myself or taking a selfie for a weigh-in post. I don’t feel like facing the fact I’ve put on weight and am the largest I’ve ever been Read more…
A couple of years ago, I wrote a post called Single Mothers Don’t Get Sick, about the fact I don’t have the luxury of taking to my bed with every sniff or cough. Since publishing that post, I have had the odd bug, and my sister has stepped in to save Read more…
Last year, S and I went with Auntie Af to a holiday park on the coast for weekend. I was so glad to have my sister with me; at the time, S was 2 and into everything (not much has changed; now she’s 3 and into everything). She figured Read more…
Today is Single Parents’ Day, though you probably didn’t notice. There don’t seem to be too many cards in the shops for this one, do there. Probably because if you’re a single parent, you don’t have a partner to go out and blow a small fortune on gifts for Read more…
For those who don’t know, we moved house last week. In the week or so before the move, I was trying desperately to juggle my workload (oh, the joys of being self employed) with caring for S, and packing. My mum had S a couple of days so that Read more…
The thing about dating when you’re a single parent is that it’s such a kerfuffle! I mean, dating in itself is a pain in the bum – you get dressed up, you put on your best smiley face and basically make like you’re having a job interview for an hour Read more…
S has been on holidays from nursery, which means two weeks stuck at home with Mummy. Neither of us has been enthralled by this prospect, if I’m honest. Being self employed means I can’t really take two weeks off so most of S’s nap times and my evenings are spent Read more…
I’ve mentioned before that I’m reading Bad Mother by Ayelet Waldman; I mentioned it in this post about the difference between a good mother and a good father. I’m really loving this book; it’s made me laugh out loud and also cry out loud. I’m beyond jealous that I cannot Read more…
If you’ve clicked this link looking for clever lifestyle tips or life hacks… you’ll probably want to click away now. I don’t really have any clever tips. Sorry about that. I’m a single mother; I work from home; I maintain (what I’d like to think is) a successful blog. People Read more…
I overheard two mothers talking in Costa this morning. I think one of their friends must have been ill or something. One said to the other, “what would you do if you were a single mother, though, and you were ill? I mean, what would you do with the Read more…