Personal Narrative: An Interview With A Single Mother

I interviewed Lisa Hairston, she is my mother. I picked my mother because me and her have been through a lot and I figured she would be someone good to interview. Lisa is a single-parent mother with two children. They are her biological children. She now has 29-year-old son that was born in 1987 and a 20-year-old daughter that was born in 1996. Their names are Antonio Lashaun Jamison, who goes by Shaun and Rachelle Antoinette Hairston. Our family wasn’t a traditional one, it had been just my mom, grandmother, brother, and me. Starting off my interview I asked Lisa when did she first leave her kids in someone else’s care, with whom and why. Lisa explained that she left Shaun with her mother until he started school, then went to daycare from …show more content…
Lisa stated, “I have always been a single-parent, their father was never to be found, which didn’t stop me from providing for my children.” Being a single mother gave her the motivation to work harder and make sure her children had what they needed. Having to work all the time and couldn’t be home a lot, Lisa interpreted that she had good jobs while we were growing up, but still struggled. Lisa stated,” I tried my best to not let my babies see when I was struggling.” Nevertheless, her children were her escape from the stress of being a single mother. During the interview, I asked how being a parent affected her relationship with our fathers. In other words, she didn’t have a relationship with either of our fathers. Consequently, she gave them the opportunity to come in and out of her children lives whenever they wanted. Even though she gave them the opportunity to come back in their children lives they never came back to help her out. Her mother helped raise us more than our …show more content…
Basically, raising her children to be respectful young adults was the most meaningful. Also, having two amazing children was part of being her most meaningful part of parenting. As stated before, she had to do it by herself, which was the most difficult for her. Even though she struggled she was always nurturing, but authoritarian as well. Stressing was also difficult for her as well. Overall, she stated, “My little family was my escape from some of the stress that came along.” Not fully understanding what she meant by that statement I went further into her statement. In fact, she meant that spending time and being able to interact with her kids was a stress reliver for