Single Parenting Survival Tips

Successful and positive single parenting tips for raising happy and healthy children, while keeping your sanity intact.

Single parenting is certainly an undertaking requiring finesse and strategy. And some days, survival is the best to hope for. Keeping up with the details of daily living is hard to do, when you're darting here and there, trying not to lose out on any part of your child's life. It becomes harder, still, when we miss out on once in a lifetime events, when we know there should be some way we could juggle everything a bit more efficiently.

There is no single formula for successful parenting, but there are ways to help ease the load of single parenting and make a few rough days more bearable.


1) Find time saving ways of accomplishing everyday tasks. Cook larger portions than needed, especially on weekends when you might have a little extra time, and freeze extra portions in individual meal packages. Then, during the busy and hectic weekdays, take packages out, and heat and serve your ready-made meals. Run errands all at one time, instead of coming and going from home to different places around town, expending your gasoline and your energies. Also, let the kids help at home. It's good for them, and better for all of you.
2) Have a life outside of parenting and your children. Join a club, have regular workouts at a local gym, take yourself out to eat or out for a day of fun with your friends. Allow yourself time at home to be alone, like enjoying a long soak in the tub, free from phones and other demands. This might mean enjoying the tub when the kids are at school, or, you might even hire a babysitter for a couple of hours. Whatever it takes, find unique ways to keep your kids occupied that also give you a chance to recharge your own batteries.
3) Pay attention to your child - each one individually, if you have multiple children. Even though parents need a separate life for themselves, children need lots of attention and tender loving care. Spend regular quality time with each child. Hear what they're really saying, and spend fun time together. Don't wait until your child gets in trouble before you pull yourself away from your busy life to hear what they have to say
4) Be honest with your child. Though children may not always need to hear the whole, ugly truth about life, and about your past (especially in the case of divorce or a troubled past that resulted in the birth of that child), kids deserve to be treated with honesty and respect. Answer their questions in a straightforward manner. Be honest! Kids have a way of finding things out. Better for you and for your child, not to mention better for your long-term relationship, that you be up front with your child from the very beginning. Of course, care should be taken on how much you say, depending on the age and maturity of your child.
5) Let your children become independent people. Don't shelter them to the point of overshadowing and smothering a child's independent nature. Give them responsibilities early, and then expect them to keep up with them. Let a child have a life outside of you and home, with friends and other families with whom they can relate. If you have no close adult friends who can befriend your child, check into the Big Brother/Sister program. Screen candidates very carefully!
6) Look for ways to network and connect with others for support. Join a single parents' group. Form a network with colleagues and friends. Form a car pool or a parents' day out, or try a cooperative for buying supplies in bulk to save each member of the Coop money for their individual family needs.
7) Don't be afraid to ask for help. You're just one parent, and you can't always carry the load alone. Know when it's time to lean on others to get things done, or for support to help get you through another trying day. You're no less a parent when you have to lean on others. Besides, you may be the perfect person to let another single parent lean on you, in return.
8) Don't take yourself too seriously! Learn to have fun and how to laugh. Find a balance in your life. Life is serious enough, without parents carrying all of life's burdens 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Let yourself go. Let chores around the house go for awhile. Give yourself a break now and then. After all, you don't HAVE to do it all, all of the time. Learn to laugh with your child and with your friends.


Lest this sounds like single parenting is just one giant nightmare with no end in sight, it is not. Parenting is one of the most rewarding activities a person could undertake. Yes, there are responsibilities, and the load grows quite heavy when carrying it alone. But a child doesn't need perfection. A child just needs a parent to be there, to love, guide, understand and protect. Love and Limits. When you put everything into perspective, the load seems lighter, and the joys of life and parenting begin to glow brighter than the responsibilities and tasks of everyday life.

Source: eSSORTMENT