How to Survive Single Parenting

Single parenting has got to be one of the most difficult things ever. I grew up with a single mom so I had some idea how tough it was. At least I thought I did. I've since learned that I really had no clue just how tough it really was for my mom all of those years I was growing up.

My husband accepted a position with a company in Chicago in December. He left here December 4^th to begin his new job. I couldn't bear to move my children halfway through the school year so I decided we'd stay here and stick it out. I thought it would be easy and that six months would just fly by. Here I am not even two months later wondering what I was thinking!

Part of the reason we wanted to relocate is to move closer to family. Since moving to South Carolina we're not close to any family at all and it's been tough. So now not only do we not have any family nearby, I also no longer have the support of my husband that I had. It has been a huge adjustment for all of us. The kids have really had to step up and learn to do thing for themselves that they didn't have to do before.

If anyone is reading this and are going through a similar situation I'll tell you how we are managing to get by so far. The first thing I did was implement an earlier bedtime. My children were in bed before between 9-9:30. I have now started getting them ready for bed at eight. This might seem early to some of you, but it allows me that extra hour to get stuff done for the next day that I need to get done. I've also given my children more chores and made them responsible for things they've not been responsible for in the past. This helps us to work better as a family and I get help picking up the house each night before bed.

Another thing that I had to do was to implement a stricter set of rules. I have a five and a six year old who often like to argue. I don't have time to sit and play referee like I once did. Therefore, I no longer do it. If the kids are arguing and start to get loud and can't be redirected then they get sent to their rooms for a ten-minute time out at the same time. This allows us all a few minutes to cool down. Generally they'll forget that they were even sent to their rooms and will wind up hanging out in there for sometime after the ten minutes are up.

Another thing that I've found very helpful is to set up more play dates for the kids. We've always been one of those houses that often has extra kids around, but now it's very important. They easily get bored and want to be entertained by mom and there are times when I just can't sit down and play. If they have kids over then not only do they have someone to play with, it gives me time to get things done. They enjoy this time also as it's a break in our normal routine.

I could probably write a book on all the changes that have taken place in our lives in the last few months. I'm sure as the weeks go by I'll have a lot more to add to this. Single parenting isn't easy, but it is manageable!