How many of you have husbands that travel a great deal for work or are in the military? How many of you are single mothers and have to play both roles in your household? 

Well, I salute and applaud every one of you! BIG TIME‼ 

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I used to complain often about feeling like a single mother because my husband, Bini was always busy and rarely available. It took us years to get to a good compromise of sharing the parenting responsibilities, and I am happy to say we have a great system in place which brings me to my point… 

Parenting is hard! It’s even harder when you’re alone and have to play both roles. With Bini traveling for work, I’ve been playing both mom and dad and I must say it’s no walk in the park. Between shuttling the kids around to sports and piano practices, doctor appointments, the endless school events, never-ending play dates, my full time job, the blog, other projects and taking care of all the household responsibilities I’m officially beat!

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Looking back now, I feel so childish for complaining that I felt like a single mother when Bini was here and just too busy to help with the daily routines. He might not have been able to help drive the children around, but I still had the comfort of knowing he was here in the city to help me if I really needed it. If I wasn’t available to pick up the kids from school in an emergency, he would go. I could always lean on him for support. He took care of drop off duty; assisted Lorenzo’s baseball team during practice, did homework with Bella when he could, and handled all Saturday sport activities for me (unless he has work). More than all that though, we divided our responsibilities and conquered our problems by staying united as a team (note to self. That’s an excellent line‼!) Now with him off in Ethiopia and China; I’m one man short and boy does it SUCK.  

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It all got me thinking though… how on earth do Single Moms handle it all?

It took me being alone to understand what single parenting is all about and in the small time that I’ve gotten a glimpse of what it feels like to play both roles, I got to say I received one heck of a rude awakening. It’s not easy solo-parenting, even when you have help at home or family you can call on. No one can replace the father of your children. It’s just not the same. I’m solo-parenting until Bini comes back and yes I’m tired and drained but it’s all temporary. This is what Single Moms have to do every day and every day they do it without the comfort of having a partner to help.

I don’t think I give Bini enough credit. As the days are passing by and I am realizing how hard it is for me to do everything alone, I can see just how much he does for us. I feel safe and comfortable when he is here. He knows how to take over for me and just let me be. I can’t wait for him to come home, not just because I miss him and our pillow talks like crazy but because man… I need a break! 2 more weeks to go. :)

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As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts. How do you handle solo-parenting or single parenting.

Yours,