What is a single parent? According to Oxford Dictionaries, it is "A person bringing up a child or children without a partner." I believe it is more than that. Being a single parent is not just about raising children on your own; it is the ultimate show of strength, sacrifice, and adaptability.
My mother always told me, "Being a parent is not for cowards." She was right. Parenting causes me to tap into mental and emotional reservoirs I never knew existed. Parenting alone only intensifies that. It takes endless amounts of strength to do what I do. It takes strength to parent through the utter exhaustion of day to day life, and doing it alone means there is no one to lean on when you think you can't go any further. Part of parenting also means …show more content…
My children rely on me, and only me, for everything. I often have to put their needs ahead of mine. As a mid-twenties, single woman, I would love to be able to go out whenever I want, sleep in whenever I want, and binge eat whatever I want. The sacrifice I have to make as a mid-twenties, single mother is that I cannot do those things. I have to plan everything around my children. Another sacrifice I have to make is with my love life. I do not want to be alone the rest of my life. I would love to find someone that I can settle down with and grow old with, but in order to do that I have to date, and it is extremely difficult to date as a single parent. To be able to go out for a date, I have to make sure I have a babysitter, enough money to pay a babysitter, can only leave when the sitter gets there, have to be home at a decent time, etc. It is tiring and almost not even worth it just to get out of the house for a few hours that may end up being pure torture instead of fun. If the date is bad, I will have wasted all of that time and money and have nothing to show. If I date multiple people, it is no longer only my business because the babysitter and whoever the babysitter tells also know. So many seemingly mindless things all go into play, and I have to decide how much is worth it, how much I want to sacrifice. Being a single parent is the ultimate …show more content…
I have to be the punisher and the comforter, the leader and the nurturer. If I don’t want to answer a question my child asks me, I cannot say, “Go ask your father.” At that moment, I have to decide which role I need to step into in order to best answer their question. I have to be able to adapt at a moment’s notice to be what my child needs from me in that instance. If my daughter is getting ready for a date, do I get giddy with her and help her get dolled up, or do I become protective and try to intimidate the boy? When my toddler falls off her bike do I scoop her up and kiss her boo-boos, or do I dust her off and tell her to get back on? I constantly have to make the difficult decision of which parent I need to be for my child in each situation. Being a single parent is the ultimate show of
My mother always told me, "Being a parent is not for cowards." She was right. Parenting causes me to tap into mental and emotional reservoirs I never knew existed. Parenting alone only intensifies that. It takes endless amounts of strength to do what I do. It takes strength to parent through the utter exhaustion of day to day life, and doing it alone means there is no one to lean on when you think you can't go any further. Part of parenting also means …show more content…
My children rely on me, and only me, for everything. I often have to put their needs ahead of mine. As a mid-twenties, single woman, I would love to be able to go out whenever I want, sleep in whenever I want, and binge eat whatever I want. The sacrifice I have to make as a mid-twenties, single mother is that I cannot do those things. I have to plan everything around my children. Another sacrifice I have to make is with my love life. I do not want to be alone the rest of my life. I would love to find someone that I can settle down with and grow old with, but in order to do that I have to date, and it is extremely difficult to date as a single parent. To be able to go out for a date, I have to make sure I have a babysitter, enough money to pay a babysitter, can only leave when the sitter gets there, have to be home at a decent time, etc. It is tiring and almost not even worth it just to get out of the house for a few hours that may end up being pure torture instead of fun. If the date is bad, I will have wasted all of that time and money and have nothing to show. If I date multiple people, it is no longer only my business because the babysitter and whoever the babysitter tells also know. So many seemingly mindless things all go into play, and I have to decide how much is worth it, how much I want to sacrifice. Being a single parent is the ultimate …show more content…
I have to be the punisher and the comforter, the leader and the nurturer. If I don’t want to answer a question my child asks me, I cannot say, “Go ask your father.” At that moment, I have to decide which role I need to step into in order to best answer their question. I have to be able to adapt at a moment’s notice to be what my child needs from me in that instance. If my daughter is getting ready for a date, do I get giddy with her and help her get dolled up, or do I become protective and try to intimidate the boy? When my toddler falls off her bike do I scoop her up and kiss her boo-boos, or do I dust her off and tell her to get back on? I constantly have to make the difficult decision of which parent I need to be for my child in each situation. Being a single parent is the ultimate show of