The secret (and difficult) life of solo parenting

Being a single parent means having to do it all without the back-up of a 'number-two'

According to Central Statistics Office data “48% of lone parents said they often experience judgemental attitudes or exclusion as a lone parent, while 41% reported feeling lonely all or most of the time"

Whether you are a solo mam or dad bringing up your children completely on your own — people don’t really get what it’s like. You have to live it. Coping skills really depend on how and if you can manage it all and still stay relatively sane and undamaged by the many curveballs thrown at you, as you navigate parenting alone.

A typical day for me now is as follows — Alarm goes off at 7.30 am to get my 10-year-old twins ready for school, luckily, close by. WW3 begins as arguments commence about breakfast, what’s in the lunch box, clothes to wear (they have no uniform) hair down (I want hair up) won’t wear coats (as too puffy) can we drive (as school bags are so heavy) This is all by 8.30 am, which is the time I have to leave, to be on time. As I wave from the school gate — I breathe. I have five and a half hours to do what I need to before the afternoon schedule takes over.