Be Kind To Your Single Parent Friends

People become single parents for various reasons, divorce and death are what come to my mind first, followed by military duty and jail.  There are other reasons people are single parents too. 

Trust me I know. 

From November 2007 to August 2008 my hubby spent 2 weeks in Ireland, then 2 weeks home, alternating like that for 10 months while I stayed home and looked after a baby and a spirited two year old.  Then, in September and October he spent 2 days/week in NYC.  Thankfully for me, the economy went to the toilet and his company began to cut back on all “non-essential” travel,  He’s been home with us for the past 3.5 months and its been awesome!

Being a single parent for whatever reason sucks.  Not only is it lonely as hell, but it’s also a lot of hard work.  My girls go abso-freaking-lutely apeshit when my hubby travels.  They become emotional train wrecks.  Melting down over every thing, sleeping poorly, eating extra poorly and constantly fighting.  Yes – fun stuff.  They probably feed off of my oh-so-cheerful demeanor while he’s gone.  ‘Cause truthfully?  I’m an emotional train wreck too.

This week I’m a single mom again.  We’re now in a new quarter, financials are better and the travel is starting again.  This week is totally going to suck the big one, yanno?

But it doesn’t have to.  Friends can help.  They can call to say “Hi”, they can invite you over for dinner so you don’t have to cook (hint, hint), they can pop by to visit to break up the loneliness, they can even bring you dinner! 

Note my emphasis on dinner.  During my days as a single parent I found dinner time the loneliest.  I could make it through most of the day, but by dinner time I was wiped out.  Bath and bed time was ok ’cause by that time in the day I could see the light at the end of the tunnel.  The kids would soon sleep and I could soon have time to myself (or collapse out of sheer exhaustion myself). 

This week my challenge to you is to call one of your single parent friends, say “Hi” and maybe even invite them over for dinner.  I bet they’d appreciate it – I know I sure would.

Janice Smith blogs daily about the challenges of raising two daughters, health and fitness at: http://www.momontherun.net

Related posts:

1. Intimacy Single Parent
2. Holidays and the Single Parent
3. Single Mom Loss Recovery
4. Giving Kids Attention When You’re a Single Mom
5. Serious Dating As a Single Mom