Re: Help! Single-Parent With ADD

[Saffron]

Irisheyes:

HANG IN THERE. I know well what you’re going through as a single parent who needs help but lacks family and finds herself living far away from her support system as a result of marriage/divorce. These might just be the hardest few years you’ll face, but they won’t last forever, so tread water as hard as you can, mama.

Desperate times call for desperate measures: consider putting an ad in your community paper or bulletin board saying that you’re looking for other single moms or parents who are relatively new to the area and are interested in spelling each other off now and then. You will hear from someone, maybe even several people.

As a stop-gap measure, consider setting up an area in your house where you have put everything you need to rest and be comfortable for hours at a time, and where your daughter has everything she needs to be occupied (favorite ready-made meals/snacks and drinks, plus well-loved or new games, crafts, books and movies that are specially saved for those times only), with the understanding that mom is present and wants to be with her but is not to be otherwise engaged. It shows your daughter that there is no shame in taking care of yourself when you are down (and that it is in fact imperative), while also assuring her that you are not running away from being her mom. I did this for a few months while I was pregnant and on bedrest with my second child and pretty much alone in a new community. We got through.

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