Parenting & the Single Mom: By Jennifer MaggioSýnishorn

Are you enjoying your season?

It can seem difficult to enjoy your season when you are running on two hours of sleep and can barely keep your eyes open throughout the day due to life’s many demands as a busy single mom. When you are running to and from practices, games, parent-teacher meetings, and more, it can feel like chaos. You might be thinking, “How can anyone enjoy this busy and chaotic schedule?” You might even feel a little frustrated that your free time is taken up with parenting demands that should be carried by two people instead of one. It is important to remember that this busy season is just that - a season, and it passes quicker than you think. One day, when your children are grown, and out of the house, you will miss the sporting events, school projects, and busy schedules.

Step 2 to parenting as a single mom: Enjoy your season!

Parenthood - the real meat of it, anyway - is only for a season. Yes, you’ll always be their mom, of course. But the nuts and bolts, daily grind, and huge demand on your time and mental bandwidth will eventually fade. They will become self-sufficient adults who don’t continue to live in your home. Consider this. You have been parenting a child diligently for approximately two decades. If you live to be eighty years old, that means you have sixty years of your life that will be dedicated to other pursuits. It doesn’t mean that once they are grown, they aren’t your pride and joy and that your role completely ends. It simply means they aren’t the primary focus of every day. So, enjoy where you are now in this season because it will one day end. The sleepless nights. The exhausting discussions about boys. The hundreds and hundreds of school and sporting events you may be attending. Don’t be so busy wishing for a new season, e.g. when they start driving, get out of elementary school, when they are potty-trained, that you miss the joys of the current one. Be intentional about enjoying some of the day-to-day activities that you are involved with, taking care to stop and smell the roses, dance in the rain, play a board game, and laugh with your children. You will look back and miss the busy days. Allow your children to see you enjoying the day-to-day. Dance during the dishes. Sing during the laundry. Play trivia on the ride to school. Be intentional about enjoying this season with your children.

Points to Ponder:

• How would I feel if this season ended abruptly? Would I have done everything I could to make it a good season? An enjoyable one?