There's no such thing as failure, you are just warming up for success.You have to dig deep and you have to find your own passion. Sometimes,
with the right mix of love and faith and tolerance and support and mutual respect and patience, situations can turn in other ways. In positive ways. In hopeful ways. And that's what these tips are all about – helping each other to walk the path of purpose and possibility. Drawing on our shared experiences so that we can make better decisions and so that we can support them with better decisions of our own.
Finding the resolve and the reason to give ourselves the earned benefit of the doubt, to the point where we can't help but come down on the side of hope.
- Glenda
Single Parenthood
In an age where the percentage of single parent households grows each day, it is no wonder that many of the questions I receive have to do with issues involving dealing with single parenthood. Often we hear of the effects that these homes have on the children but rarely do we have discussions regarding the effects on the parent. As a single mother myself, I have lived in these shoes. I know how difficult it can be to juggle work, childrearing, and other obligations without the physical presence of another parent each day. Yet, I am not going to spend this time discussing the hardships of single parenting. What I am going to do is give you small suggestions to maximize quality time with your children and find the precious moments to yourself that can be a struggle to make room for.
- Use your ride to and from work to either mentally gear up for or wind down from your work day. By using this time to organize your thoughts, you may find that when you reach your destination, it will be much easier to tend to the needs of your children or your career.
- When you do have time with your children, try your best to make it quality time. Simple adjustments like cooking dinner together while chatting about your days can start wonderful traditions. One thing that I did with my sons is using the car ride to school as an additional chance to facilitate conversation. Our rule was the radio was either on the way to school or coming back home from school, but not both. In the beginning there was an adjustment period, but soon enough they looked forward to our time together just as much (or even more than) listening to their latest jam on the radio.
- Between work and school schedules, sports, dances, and church, many families do not take the time to just spend relaxing recreational time together. Family activities can sometimes be one of the rare times that you have your children together. Try not to take family time away as a punishment. If your family tradition is to go to the movies the first Friday of each month, think twice before you cut this activity because your child didn’t keep his or her room clean that week. Is there any other activity that you could use as a punishment? Maybe you can cancel a trip to the skating rink with friends.
- Make time for yourself! As parents, we all want to give our all to our children but we also need to be mindful to give to ourselves. Self-care is more important than many of us realize. Many parents do not recognize they need time to decompress until their stress level is peaking. So while I know it sounds nearly impossible at times, but alone time is imperative to maintain your sanity. Even if it is just 30 minutes to take a hot bath or an hour to work out, these moments can do wonders for your mental well-being. One thing that I did when my boys were younger was to create a network of single mothers in my community. We would often take turns watching each others children while one of the mothers took time run errands or just needed a few hours alone. I met lifelong friends in mothers that could relate to my situation and my boys met some great playmates!
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