Single Parents

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A year ago, Xander wanted Skylanders, so I bought Skylanders Spyros and he began collecting the Skylanders to play on it. About the time I breahted a sigh of relef that he had collected them all, he got Skylanders Giant and we dropped another small fortune. But, finally, he had all the completely separate Skylanders he needed for that. A few months passes by and hadn't asked for a new one. Well, now -- NOW -- these assholes have come wout with **new** Skylanders game - Skylanders Swap Force - that requires a whole new set of Skylanders to play. I mean, son of a bitch!!! I hope the u niverse sends a flat tire or a stubbed toe to the terrorist who continue to churn out these games!

What all electronic devices do you allow your child to use? And how often a day? My boys are 10 and nearly 8 and we haven't given in to letting them have phones or tablets yet. However, we are getting the 10 year old the iPad for christmas this year. He currently has an iPod touch and all we hear about is how the other kids have tablets. The 8 year old isn't really interested in tablets yet. I think for him he sees that as us being able to make him do homework simulations on. He does love video games. We have a PS3 and a Wii, but they are only allowed to play those on the weekends currently. Do you allow week night play time? We have a lot of activities and by the time we get home there's really only time for homework, bathing, and eating. So they don't really fight us on that one.

Weekends I guess it varies. I've setup "wifi password privileges" and they have to do certain things throughout the week to get the new wifi password. This really motivates the older one b/c he wants to game and be accessible to all his other buddies.

So any feedback would be appreciated. Happy monday!

so I was walking down the hallway and I heard both boys (10 & 7.5) in the bathroom (& THEY WEREN'T FIGHTING) & I was just happy that they were laughing so I stopped at the door b/c they were laughing and I hear...
7.5 - (Xayden) "I can make mine bigger, give me a sec"


WHAT?!?!?!

So. My ex has always been married to her career. She's an equity partner looking to become a named partner before she's 40 in a law firm. Her dads kinda a big deal in DC so she has big shoes to fill and stops at nothing to do that.

When we were together it was easy and natural for me to keep her up on the kids activities and games and make sure she was there even though she worked while being there.

With her moving out, I put in a lot of effort to remind of the boys soccer and baseball and basketball games and also that they had guitar practice or drum practice or that they were doing the crafts at home depot on this day and time and that she should come. And by remind...I would send her an email each week with the schedule of events and then text her morning noon and after work the day of to remind her. She would make some here and there and as I stated, work the whole time.

So the past month I thought screw that. I'm not her parent either and so I send out a weekly email to her and to my siblings and parents (b/c they have been stepping up to support the boys) and she has maybe hit 1-3 since then - IN A MONTH.

My oldest, Xander, gets so upset he cries the whole way home when she's not there. He almost hyperventalates b/c he is so upset and he is so angry at me. I tell him to call her and ask HER why she didn't make it. And he does this and she tells him some crap that she didn't know or didn't see that email and that maybe I didn't send it.

So now - I have HIM send the email to her, even from his own email account. Did she come this weekend???? NOPE. So when she did show up on Saturday to carve pumpkins with us he asked her flat out "why did you miss my soccer game?" and she says "I didn't know you had one today, no one told me" and he didn't even say a word...just the look on his face was like he finally got it and knows that his mother was a liar. Not that this made me happy b/c then the look on his face showed heartbreak and he excused himself and went to the bathroom and cried.

But you know what? He didn't cry for her when she left that night. He simply said goodbye and gave her a quick hug and he didn't mention her the rest of the weekend.

As much as it broke his heart knowing now whom she really is, it broke mine too.

So how do you handle the resentment from your child / children with leaving their mother?
She cheated, granted, but I couldn't work it out and now my 10 year old blames me
b/c she's just become more engrossed into her career. They live wtih me b/c her work is demanding (attorney)
and her career is very important to her. She picks 3 days a week that she stops by and hangs out with them and when she leaves my oldest tells me over and over how he hates me. It's been since well...I guess June when she moved out. The 7 year old just laughs about her almost. He makes comments to me and brother "oh, you know she won't come" or "you know she forgot..."...and that breaks my heart hearing him lose hope. I don't know.

Hello! I used to be an active member of this group. I haven't been on here in quite a while though. I am still a single mother. My son is now 12 years old. A lot has changed in our lives. We have become more stable and found our nitch in how we get from day to day. That is until about 2 months ago when I went on a first date in over 5 years. Now I'm trying to figure out how to be a single mother and date and still have this life that we've come to know. Does anyone have advice on how to balance all of this? At times I want to just give up on the dating idea and go back to just being a single mother. Its been 8 years since my divorce. How do I keep things well for my son...let him know that I'm here for him and always will be and yet that I get lonely at times too and want to date? Any advice would be great! Thank you :)

Hello everyone,

I'm so thankful to be part of this group! I look forward to sharing tips and experiences with you all. I am sort of a newly single parent. I'm 35 yrs old with a 5yo daughter and 2.5 yo son.

It's very hard to figure out how much to share. I could write a small novel.

( about the break upCollapse )

I wrote a huge section, about the size of the text above, about our relationship and how it got to that point, but feel it might be too much to share(?)

The only other thing besides figuring out housing and how we're going to manage financially, that I'm trying to figure out right now, is my poor kids :( My son, who was very anti-social from infancy, started paying a lot of attention to older males. He even called one daddy yesterday, after the man ignord him when he said hi :( It is heartbreaking to see him reaching out to males :( My daughter is mostly ok but she has never been a complainer and has started having stomachaches and when she's just on her own playing or whatever, she sometimes looks so very sad :( I called an agency that exists to help separated and divorced families to ask about counselling for kids, but they haven't called back yet. My ex has never been involved in the family or home, but he did play with them once in a while. He was rough with them, very impatient, but still their father.

HE came by to get the rest of his clothes on Thursday and refused to see them. My son begged and pulled me upstairs to see him and after 5 mins of giving me shit for letting our son see him, he said hi to him :( He has made no plans to see them. Also, his new girlfriend's place is 2.5 hrs away :/ which totally doesn't make sense for his job or for seeing his kids. Last time he moved out it was an hour and a half away and he swore the next place would be in our neighborhood. .. clearly he is choosing her over us. He is also a huge liar. .oh god, I could write in here for pages. . .

That is where we are right now.

Well I wanted to stop in and say HI...Im a single parent to a almost 7yr old son. It sure hasn't been a easy task being a parent let alone a single mom. I was on LJ before he was born and made some good friends. So Im hoping to do the same again but this time with people of similar interests.
My son has been the strength I need to go on each day. Especially lately since I was laid off...I have been real down but knowing I have a reason to get up each day has kept me going.

I dont want to bore anyone on my first visit here...just wanted to stop in. Im relearning LJ again so give me time to get my profile up and running.

Have a great night!!!

Hi everyone. I am not new to the community, just absent for a very long time but I am back! I was a single parent, got married, had another baby, got divorced and am currently expecting number 3 with my ex husband. This is an odd situation for the both of us but we are trying to make the most of it and do the best we can for all of the children involved. I do have a question for all of you out there reading this. Have any of you been in this kind of situation before and how did it turn out for you? I know all people are different and the outcomes are going to be different but I am curious to know if and how things worked out.