"We don't get time like this very much, this is great"

That is a direct comment from my son tonight. We had just completed the Christmas tree. This made me feel that I don't do enough with my child. I do everything for him in my power. Though perhaps I'm not giving him enough of me. I love when we sit down and play games, make crafts and I make sure to do one activity every weekend. It just doesn't seem to be enough. These moments are what helped me make the decision not to have another child. If my son feels he isn't getting enough time with just me when it's just him and I, then how would he feel if there were another? So hard to hear my son say that he doesn't get enough of me, though on the other hand it is heart warming to hear him say how much he enjoys the time that he does spend with me

Is it hard to be Mom?

"Is it hard to be Mom?" my son asked me today Harder than you'll ever know is what I think to myself, out loud: "Only when your naughty so don't be naughty okay?" "Okay" Being mom is hard, every mom knows this and it doesn't end when they grow up and leave the house. Being a single mom has twice the struggles. My little man is slowly seeing my struggles and beginning to understand. There is only one of me and a big house with lots of chores, from yard work to laundry, carpentry to scrubbing toilets; I do it all. He sees this now and wants to help sometimes. Other times I have to coax him. The pride in is eyes when I tell him he's done a good job helping mom and how much it means to me make every trivial moment worth it. Every struggle is rewarded with that smile, that love. Yes being mom is hard, worrying about what will happen if I just run down stairs while he's out in the yard. What will happen if I don't wake up when he does. Did I lock the doors? Are the windows closed? Did I turn off the oven? The space heater? But every day I wake up to that precious face and say THANK YOU! for my beautiful blessing. He's everything I ever wanted and then some. They say the best things in life don't come easy and I agree.

Letting go

I thought my son would NEVER let go of his old toys. He's almost 8 and we still have many of his baby toys. I used to have a large play room for him in our last house that and his bedroom were over flowing with toys. Now we've moved to a house where his room is smaller and so is the space in our basement so he has a corner down there, most of the three season porch and his bedroom all filled with toys. Now who can play with that many toys? Recently I asked him if he would give up a crate full of toys. I expected extreme resistance as I've gotten many times in the past. I expected to hear the oft heard cry "but I love those toys mom!" Instead he nonchalant said, "Okay." What? Who are you and what have you done with my child? So I gave it a bit and I came back and asked him to put the toys in a bag to give away. He did it with out any protest. Is my little boy growing up? Perhaps this is just a ploy to get something he really wants. Time to pull out the boxes and see how much I can get him to give away.

Parenting advice

I belong to a very popular parenting site where you can find out all about having babies, making babies and raising your children. Anything you ever want to know about children is supposedly on this site. Well a section of this site is forums where you can post questions or pictures and others on the site can give you advice. Sounds great right? Well not so much, so often I see such horribly rude responses to peoples questions. Sure I don't like all the questions, to be honest I think many of them are ridiculous. For example: Is it time to take the ride on away? The persons son was too big for all the other baby toys but they needed advice on if the child was too big for the riding toy. Hello! When do we stop letting other people parent our children and take it into our own hands? I stray, back to the topic. I don't like all the questions but if I don't have helpful information to share I don't say anything at all. Something my mother always used to say to me and I'll always say to my child, "If you can't say anything nice don't say anything at all" Really is it necessary to say to a mother who asked the opinion of others about a 4 year old being ok in the bath alone, "you knew you were giving them a bath why didn't you have the towel with you" how does that help her? I just don't understand why people can't just give advice if they have good advice rather than ridicule someone for asking the question.

Too big for his britches

Oh how many times I've heard that saying. Well now I've got a son who's acting just that way, too big for his britches. I'm constantly after him to pick up after himself. I don't want my child to grow into a man who leaves his dirty clothes on the floor and dirty dishes under the couch. Many women know the kind of man I'm talking about, we all want to change them but habits are hard to break. Well this morning my son found one tiny piece of paper I had dropped on the floor after making a birthday card. He yells up the stair to me "Mom when are you going to learn to pick up after your self?!" That's a big thing for a little man to be saying to his mother! I'm sure in his little 7 year old head that wasn't a bad thing to say, perhaps he was even trying to be funny. I however did not find it funny. I am not raising my son to be disrespectful to others like that. I don't even know where he got that phrase. I know I've told him he needs to learn to pick up after himself but I have NEVER said it like that. So hard to teach them how to be respectful when there is so much disrespect going on around them.

Hard work for us parents who actually care

Potty Training at age 7?

Really? I thought by this age he'd really know that pooping in your pants really is a smelly idea. Every weekend it seems he does it at least once. I don't know what's gotten into him. I warned him the last time that I would start punishing him for the behavior and talked about how embarrassed he'd be if his friends found out he pooped his pants. I was laying in bed with him doing nothing in particular when I smelled that tale tale smell. Ugh! Sent him in to get cleaned up and sent him to his room to clean it. He has spent the day in there because he decided to talk back on top of it. He told me to apologize for yelling at him for pooping his pants. Ha apologize to him for punishing him for doing something wrong? So after he'd been in his room for a very long time I finally had him come talk to me. I explained to him that I will not tolerate the behavior and if it happens again it means he needs diapers and I will make him wear them to school. I really hope that this is the last time this smelly incident occurs. I don't want to potty train a second time.

Greetings!

I am a single mother of a 7 year old. His father divorced me 5 weeks before he was born and we have been navigating lives ups and downs together ever since. We have faced many challenges from day one and have over come each and every one with positive outcomes. We purchased our first house in November of 2009 and it has brought with it a new set of challenges. I will share with you the challenges and hopefully their solutions. Mostly I will get off my chest the frustrations of day to day life as a single mother.