Tag Archives: interests

Do Something Just for Yourself

In the Parenting Blog yesterday, I wrote a fun little piece about surviving as a parent by taking a break from being a parent for a short time—just pretending for an hour or two that you are not a mom or a dad and getting out of that identity. For single parents, I KNOW this can be especially hard. After all, we don’t normally have any back-up and we cannot just turn things off and head out the door on a whim. What I do think we can do, however, is train ourselves to do something occasionally just for us… … Continue reading →

Marriage Breakers – Part 2

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Friday we talked about marriage breakers, things you need to talk to your potential spouse about before you say yes or before you ask the question. We covered areas like kids, finances and housework. Today we’re going to look at a few more items that can make or break a marriage. The In-Laws I am very fortunate in that I like my in-laws, all of them. My mother-in-law is not a monster-in-law and we’re actually really good friends. My sister-in-law is more like a sister than anything else and we’ve had our ups and downs, but it’s never been a … Continue reading →

Starting a Business in Your Line of Work (or Trying Something New)

Figuring out what your home business is going to be all about can come easily for some of us, but for others, we might spend years just trying to sort out what we think we ought to be doing, what we’re good at, and what we actually want to do. One of the big questions is whether to start a home business in a field that you already work in and have experience in, or do you go after something you’ve always wanted to do or head into a brand new field? The pros of starting a business doing something … Continue reading →

Get Interested in Your Child’s Passions

I know, I know, you’re probably thinking that you have enough to manage just trying to keep control of a busy single parent’s schedule. “Now she’s telling me I need to take on all my child’s interests too! Where on earth am I going to find time for that?!” I am not preaching that we need to get all involved and take on our children’s passions as our own, but I do think that we need to find time to care and get interested in what they are interested in. It gives us a way to connect and it gives … Continue reading →

Who Gets to Choose the Activities?

Are you constantly trying to come up with fun family activities? Scanning the newspaper and web sites to find suitable and age-appropriate things for you and your kids to do? Have you ever thought of letting the kids find and choose the activities and being willing to go along with THEIR interests? As my children have gotten older, I have been learning how to let go a little on my activities director role. I may not always get to do something that I love, but spending time with my kids (whom I do love) is well worth it. I credit … Continue reading →

Focus on Shared Interests

Communicating with our children can be challenging–and not just for single parents either. As our lives get so full with responsibilities and activities, and our children grow and change, it can be tough to stay connected. Life can be hectic and having unlimited time to sit down and catch up just might not be happening. Focusing on keeping some shared interests alive can be one way that a single parent can stay connected with his or her children. If you are a non-custodial parent or do not get to see your children on a regular basis, you know how challenging … Continue reading →

Know Your Own Limits

What are you willing to do? How hard are you willing to work? Will you consider taking two jobs for the sake of your family or relocating for work? Do you want to make less money in order to be available for your child or family? Do you have enough energy to go to school AND work while caring for your family? There are so many options for a single parent (despite how it may seem sometimes) that we may get roped into thinking we are supposed to do it all. It is important to understand our own limits and … Continue reading →

Truly Lazy or Just Not Interested?

I think we parents have a tendency to worry that our children will be or are lazy if they don’t do all the things we think they should be doing. BUT, are they truly lazy—or is it just that they are not embracing our ideas of what they ought to be doing with their time? Is it really just a matter of them not caring about what we care about? Or should we be worried about their motivation and activity level? I find that my kids can get pretty motivated—get out of bed early, work long hours, and stay focused—on … Continue reading →

Time Tight? Prioritize Your Interests

We talk here in the single parents blog about the importance of finding time for self care and personal interests, but I know first hand that it is much easier to talk about it than to actually find the time and energy to do it. One of life’s lessons that I learned from an older mentor is that instead of just giving up and giving in as a single parent and assuming that we are going to have to put our personal interests on hold until our kids are out of the house or our life situations change–we can prioritize. … Continue reading →

How to Learn More About Your Spouse

Even though Wayne and I celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary last month, have been together over 20 years total, and know each other about as well as we can, we don’t know everything. Surprisingly, we’re still learning new things about each other. For Example… Take this past weekend. Last week in “The Things He Does For Love: Ghost Hunting Classes” I wrote how Wayne agreed to attend a ghost hunting class with me. It was something I wanted to do, but something that would take up our together time during a weekend Wayne was home. Ghosts fascinate me. (Or, I … Continue reading →