Solo Mother

A few thoughts: what are you going to do when you’re all alone?

by christina on January 13th, 2008

Accidents happen. Do you have a plan?

I fell down the stairs this afternoon. The good new is, I’m fine. Sort of–I mean, I’m twisted and in some pain, and I look like the runner up in a hickey contest, but I’m ok. My kid was in the living room when I came down most of a flight of stairs on parts of my body not designed for descent. One of the dishes in my hand shattered below me, the other remained untouched, in my hand. The King of Everything was horrified, and rightly so. I’m sure it SOUNDED awful.

But it also got me to thinking. What would we do if something really bad happened to me?

Do you know what to do?

One of the dangers of single mother living is that there’s no one else in the house but you and the kid(s). Do your little ones know about 911? Do you have a landline, or are you only relying on cell phones? Do you even know where your cell phone is? Does your kid know how to call 911? What to do in case of a fire, earthquake, tornado, or whatever other natural disasters that might plague your little corner of Heaven?

Here’s another one. Does your front door lock with a deadbolt? Can your kid reach it? Or, even worse, does your door lock with a key, like mine? I recently found out that a man I used to know burned to death in his own house because all his windows and doors had bars, and he couldn’t find his keys when the fire broke out inside his home.

Is there anyone who checks in with you regularly? Is there someone who would worry and investigate if a day went by without a phone call? Single mothers don’t have partners coming home every evening.

If you became seriously ill, who would take care of the kids? Who, for that matter, would take care of you?

If you don’t have answers to these questions, I recommend you start working on a list. List emergency contacts, list phone numbers where your children can easily find them. If you rely on a cell phone, leave it in a place, charged, where everyone can find it. Have escape routes in case of fire or disaster. Have a rendez-vous point picked out for older children, and talk to your children’s schools to know what their policy is in case of evacuation.

Have the phone numbers of emergency babysitting services, local repairmen, neighbors, and friends on hand in case something goes wrong.

A few minutes of paranoid thinking can save you hours of sheer panic if something goes wrong.

Now, I’m off to find an ice pack for my unmentionables and a glass of wine for my bruised ego.

(telephone dial image from http://www.retrowow.co.uk

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