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…
The other day I was talking to a friend who has two sons. She was telling me about how she’d gone out for the afternoon with just her eldest son, and how lovely it had been to sit and have a drink and a chat with him. Then she stopped Read more…
Is it hard to be a single parent? To be honest, it’s not a question I’m asked a lot. That’s not because I make it look so easy, but because the assumption is just generally made that being a single parent must be really tough. There are two sides to Read more…
I’ve had a few conversations lately that have seen me bite my lip, take a deep breath and rise above it. As a single mother, I can often find myself doing that; it’s easier and more harmonious to just rise above it, than to enter into a debate. I’m well Read more…
This morning a report has been released by Gingerbread, showing that single parents will be the worst hit by the planned cuts to Tax Credits. You may have seen me being interviewed on Good Morning Britain this morning about how cuts to Tax Credits will affect me. The two main Read more…
This Sunday was Father’s Day; you might have noticed. We don’t really celebrate Father’s Day in this house; S doesn’t have a father in her life, and my dad died almost eleven years ago. That said, I’m a big fan of the concept of the Double Parent and the Read more…
You may have noticed there’s an election coming up. Besuited politicians have been taking part in televised debates and generally flexing their hand-shaking/baby-kissing muscles at every available opportunity. I live in what’s commonly known as a safe seat. My constituency has been Conservative for 90 years, and my MP Read more…
Yesterday morning a friend drew my attention to an article in the Daily Mail… don’t ask me what my friend was doing reading the Daily Mail; I will never know. She’s pregnant. We’ll blame it on Baby Brain and say no more of it. The article was entitled, Fifth of Read more…
If you’re a regular reader of the Daily Mail, you will have read yesterday that more boys aged 15 have a smartphone than live with their father. This is the latest report from the Centre for Social Justice, an independent think tank set up in 2004 by Iain Duncan Smith Read more…
On my local radio station’s 7am news bulletin this morning, there was a story I had known was coming for a while. I knew it was coming, but I must admit to having had my head somewhat in the sand about it. This morning, letters have been sent to single Read more…
The other day, I had a proper miserable day. That particular mood tantrum was probably caused by the piece in Mother & Baby Magazine that featured a little bit about me. I am pleased to be in the UK’s number 1 parenting magazine, and incredibly grateful that Eleanor Tucker Read more…
I’m fed up and feeling sorry for myself. This time of year is shit when you’re single. The world seems full of happy couples, holding hands and kissing under mistletoe and doing their Christmas shopping and all the rest of it. And don’t give me all that old bollocks about Read more…
I’ve made a few posts lately, some quite ranty, about being a single parent and the bad reputation we seem to have. But why do I care so much? Why be bothered about the social stigma, why be bothered what people think? Why not just get my head down, and Read more…
I posted last week about how I get irritated with people’s responses to some of my posts. I found for a couple of days after that post, my brain was doing that classic and another thing… thing it is wont to do… so here are some more points I’d like to Read more…
This government seems to dislike single parents so much, and their plan of using tax breaks for married couples to somehow prevent them… well, quite frankly, it’s a bit stupid isn’t it. How is a tax break amounting to up to £3.80 a week supposed to encourage people to get married, Read more…
Let me just preface this post by saying: this post is not directed at anyone in particular. I am just in a ranty mood. I have posted a fair bit lately about being a single parent. I even made a post on my blog for the local paper about Read more…