I guess I'm kind of curious about how many single mom's we have that come here....

I never thought about it really until I became a single mom....but as I get further and further into my new life as a single mom I find I'm trying more and more to find other single mom's out there to share my experiences with and to talk about parenting as a single parent family....

I was talking to one of my Guy friends yesterday about the board and told him a bit about how long we've been up and how many members we had and he thought it was great and asked if we had a single mom's section...I was like No...but I thought it would be a great idea....I'd be willing to commit some time to organizing it and researching things around the net for single mom's too....

I guess it would sort of depend on our single mom population already huh? Or does anyone think that it would be great to have one to draw some more single parents here? I guess this is just a sort of off the top of my head idea...but I like it

By Brandy on Thursday, February 5, 2004 - 07:51 am:

Well i think it might help with the search engine if there was titled something like that i think on for example the get fit board draws some people over so it would probably work.Great Idea

By Crazytothink on Thursday, February 5, 2004 - 08:20 am:

Miss bookworm,
Wanted to let you know I was a single mom from 1992-2001, it was a struggle and my prayers and strength go out to anyone who is a single parent. My son was a beautiful gift!!!~ I thank the biological father for only that. I have never received a single nickel for my son from his BF, or has this man ever spent anytime with him. I worked hard to give him everything he needed but I always knew what he needed was a father. I had friends that would tell me "I give you credit I could never do what you are doing". I lived in FL for his first 8 months then realizing FL didn't have many programs to help single parents I moved back to RI, where I was able to get state assistance and also enter into a program that gets you into college and provides you with everything you need to get out into the working world and off welfare. I used the state to help me and in return they gave me exactly what they said they would. But it was a long road and at one point I was working 2 part time jobs and going to school at night, I thank GOD for my mother during those times. My son in his first 8 yrs of life was very demanding and very difficult he was in and out of counseling he was on paxil for almost a year he had serious obsessive disorders, and major temper tantrums where I would be called out of work to get over to daycare to calm him. But on the flip side he was extremely intelligent. I always knew he could improve I just didn't realize how much he would until 01'. I had a conversation with a really good friend of mine from JR. High school also my brother's best friend and found out that he has cared about me and has had these feelings for years this being about 15 yrs. This is who WE are with now and becuase he has known both me and my son for so long it feels so natural that he has HIM as his dad and my son is off his medication. So in looking back the few men I decided to date prior to 01' would meet my son and either didn't want to play daddy regardless of feelings they had for me or they would explain that the relationship did not include my son. These were slaps in the face to me. I now consider myself a very lucky woman to have the life of struggle in a way to really appreciate what I have finally found or in this case re-found. He was always right there, I just never looked.. Take care..

By Mommmie on Thursday, February 5, 2004 - 11:07 am:

I'm a single mom. Never married. When momsview did that survey awhile back I think I was the only one who considered themselves "single" although there were a couple of moms who refer to themselves as divorced/separated/widowed rather than single. I know the radio host Dr. Laura likes to differentiate between the groups - a single mom is a slutty never married mother who only thinks of herelf and a divorced/separated mom is one who at least *tried to do the right thing and the widows are saints. To me if there isn't a couple (married or not, heterosexual or not, biological parents or not) in residence at the home, you're single. But I digress...

This site is overwhelmingly married mothers. I don't think there's enough of us to have a dedicated single mom's board. But I could be wrong. Maybe there's not that many single moms here bec they come visit and see that it's mostly married moms and don't return.

I've been to single mom websites and so much of it is child support related and custody problems that I just can't relate. I rec'd my child support in one check, all 18 years, when my son was 1. Then biodad termianted rights. I actually have more in common with working married mothers than single mothers (and even SAHM married moms bec I stayed home for the 1st two years). The fact I'm single doesn't mean much. A lot of married moms have husbands who are gone so much (military, truck drivers, etc) that they have a lot in common with single moms.

Anyway, I'll be interested to see what others think!

By Ginny~moderator on Thursday, February 5, 2004 - 07:12 pm:

Was married for 19 years (15 of those as a mom) and then a single parent (with "dependant" children) for about 10 years. And, of course, still a "single mom", but even though one of my sons is living with me I don't think of myself as having "dependant" children. (As I frequently complain, no one told me when I started this mom thing that it would never, ever end.)

I guess I have mixed feelings, Catherin. Seems to me that a lot of the problems single moms have are the same problems all moms have, but I do know that there are some things that are peculiar to not having another parent in the household that are not related to custody/support issues.

I also would be interested to hear what others think. I'm not sure how I feel about it. One of my concerns about having separate boards for types of issues/concerns is that people not sharing that condition might not read on that sub-board and the posters could miss some good input. And, I guess I don't like separating out part of our community. On the other hand, the sub-board for parents of special needs children is such a logical thing, and I like having the diet/get fit board separate (because I avoid trying to be "fit"). I guess I don't know what I think and want very much to see how others feel.

By Ginny~moderator on Thursday, February 5, 2004 - 07:15 pm:

I just checked the poll results, but don't think they tell much. Only 114 answered the question about marital status, and 88% answered they are married.