Have you seen Champagne Cartel’s ’10 Things I Know’ series?
They have featured some really awesome women who are nailing their shit in whatever field they are in and they ask them to share their wisdom.
It’s really wonderful and I was really honoured to be invited to share 10 things I know about being a single mum.
Champagne Carolyn was a single mum for a time too, and realistically although it often feels like you’re the only one in the world there are lots of us out there.
Over the last 12 months I have gained a new respect for my mum who did it on her own with two kids, and I’ve realised that I’m lucky that I have an ex-partner who is still present in my children’s life.
I have had a crash course in solo parenting in the last 12 months and here’s 10 things I’ve learned….
1. When people say that their partner works all the time and they’re practically a single mother, it doesn’t piss me off because I know that feeling too, and it does feel like what you imagine it would be like.
In truth, it’s not really the same at all and it’s a bit of a dicky thing to say.
2. Standing in line at Centrelink is one of the most levelling experiences you’ll ever have. All single mums have to do it because you need to tell the government what you’re doing and you’re usually doing it at a crisis point so it totally tastes like despair and failure. But it isn’t. It’s just another line. Do some kegels, take some deep breaths and remember that everything is going to be better than okay.
You can read the other 8 things I know here.
6 Comments
Have I told you lately that I think you’re amazing?
Thank you for sharing your 10 things. I only wish that more exes are like you, and not make an enemy of their former partners, especially when there are kids involved.
And yes, I absolutely agree that it’s a dicky thing to say you’re a single mum when you’re not. I’ve almost said it a few times when J Daddy has had after-work functions and I was on my own with both kids from sunrise till bedtime, but I knew that, at the end of the day, he’s coming home and it’s only for one day.
Great post. I am so glad to hear that you are making it.
Thank you for sharing your top 10. I love #6! When I lived out of home by myself I too was Chief of the Spider Catch.
I bloody love this series and I bloody love you – off to read what I know will be a totally rad post. x
I don’t have kids of the human variety (mine are furred and feathered – something in my genetic code perhaps???) but what I DO know about all the fabulous single mums out there is that the moment they became Mums, their hearts existed outside their bodies, literally… and I APPLAUD them, for they’re the most unselfish, unselfcentred species that EVER walked the planet. You GO GIRLS!!! You ROCK!!!
Can I modify my comment please to reflect your subject matter of Mums who become single having had a very different vision of the way things would’ve turned out in their ‘perfect’ world. Again I SO congratualate you on doing all you can to make it as easy a transition on the kids as possible and for trying to keep things as apparently normal as you can during what must be a heartbreaking and often spirit bending time.