Single parenting on Salon.com
I really enjoyed reading this little bon mot by the grown offspring of a single parent in the forums of Salon magazine… way to go, Sky Bluesky. It made me feel better about what we’re all doing, and I can stop looking at my kid screaming I WANT TO PLAY and thinking, I really need to find him a father-figure.
Yes, it’s Saturday night. Yes, I’m at home in my jammies typing on the computer. No, the search for Mr. Right isn’t going anywhere. Not that you asked.
I’ll leave you with this lovely little snippet:
Everybody’s family is weird and has its own unusual dynamics. Moms and dads divorce, there are aunts and uncles and grandparents who act as caretakers, there are stepmoms and stepdads. Adopted kids. Kids with disabilities. Kids where one is in special ed and one is in mainstream classes. Alcoholic parents. Disinterested parents. Parents who work too much and never see their kids. Kids adapt to whatever circumstances they’re in, and that’s what “normal” is to them.
I was raised by a single dad. My mother died when I was 10 years old, leaving my father as our breadwinner and caretaker. He worked long shifts in the steel mill in Detroit and left us three boys (14, 13 and 10 when it started) to our own devices. We survived, thanks to watchful neighbors (who would keep an eye on us from across the street and across the alley), Stouffer’s boil-in-bag meals, TV dinners, and cable TV.
We’re all doing the best that we can, and if we’re not then shame on us. Otherwise, carry on, carry on, and remember: tomorrow is another day.
Tags: raising-kids, Salon, Salon.com, single-parentsRelated Stories
POSTED IN: inspiration
0 opinions for Single parenting on Salon.com
No one has left a comment yet. You know what this means, right? You could be first!
Have an opinion? Leave a comment: