Search Results for: blog dealing with your friends divorce

Will Divorce Make You Happier?

You’ve decided that love is no longer in your marriage. You’re considering whether the smarter option is to split up and go your separate ways. Should you divorce? Would it make you happier? Not necessarily. That’s the findings of a summary of households and families in the US. The report was conducted using information available from the National Survey of Family and Households. Of over 5200 married men and women interviewed in the 1980s, 645 people admitted that they were unhappily married. The same men and women were interviewed again five years down the track. Some had chosen to divorce, … Continue reading →

When Friends Divorce

When a couple divorces it can affect not only them but friends as well. Mick and I found this years ago, when a couple we were friends with divorced. We used to get together on a regular basis with this couple for a meal and to play cards – five hundred was usually the game of choice. We thought we were good friends and would have said they appeared to have a happy marriage. Then one evening we got a phone call to say they wouldn’t be coming. Soon after that one of them rang to say that they were … Continue reading →

Single Parenting: When Your Child Is Struggling With Loss

The most precious thing in the world to us is our children, I believe. When their hearts break, you feel the knife in your own chest. Watching them going through a difficult time over the loss of a parent through death or the separation of a family unit is at times too difficult to bear. You are there for them, of course, but maybe they are missing something. They just might benefit from something or someone else. The Big Brothers Big Sisters program is an organization that has been around for a very long time. They help kids ages 6 … Continue reading →

Blended and Divorced Families and Major Events—Part One

For many of us single parents, most of the time we can get away with NOT having to interact with our ex-in-laws or other extended family members on a regular basis. In fact, as the children get older—even parents who have shared custody may find that they rarely have to talk to each other. When major life events come along, however—such as a wedding, funeral, birth of a baby, or (as is my current family situation, graduation)—we are forced to have to figure out how to get along, coordinate and/or detach in order to salvage what sanity we can. I … Continue reading →

Single Dads Not Forgotten

So often we write in regards to the single mothers of the world, today I would like to reach out to the single fathers and let them know that they are not forgotten. While there are significantly more single mothers out there, many single fathers are struggling with similar issues that often go unnoticed. Growing up my two best friends were raised by a single father, in a time when single fathers were much less common. It was very unusual in the state of Utah for a father to get sole custody, but due to the extenuating circumstances at the … Continue reading →

Listen To Me, I Know What I’m Talking About

I have a confession, I’ve become a bit of a control freak. Ask anyone about the bad parts of single parenting and they will rattle off the list, finances, dealing with your ex, no down time, never getting a break, doing everything alone, and on and on. This is a list we all know too well but recently I discovered there is a side effect of single parenting that no one told me about- becoming a little controlling. I was wondering why I was always right and other people were doing everything wrong, now I know! I’ve become very set … Continue reading →

Communication

Last night I was reminded just how crucial it is to communicate with your ex spouse. Most of the time my ex and I get along fairly well. Even though we weren’t married anymore, we knew it was important to have a good relationship with each other for our son’s sake. We do our best to work together on things because, coming from broken homes ourselves, we both knew how important that was for Logan. For the last couple of months we have had some trouble communicating. He has a new girlfriend and so the dynamics of things changed drastically. … Continue reading →

Where Are You?

So you’re ready to start dating again and you are worried about how in the world you are going to go out there and find Mr. Right? As a single mom it can be hard to get out there and meet people. Your days are filled with kids and messes and work and more messes and running errands and, you guessed it, more messes! How do you possibly find the time to date in there too? It isn’t easy. Trying to find a babysitter so you can go out on Friday night can be more than a hassle. Instead I … Continue reading →

Getting a Handle on the Stresses of Being a Single Parent

Everyone knows that being a single parent is stressful. Face it, you’ve got a lot on your plate and no one to help you balance it all. Stress is just a way of life when you are parenting on your own. And for those of us that get overwhelmed easy, it can be a nightmare. Trying to get finances worked out, dealing with the ex, getting kids ready for school, taking them to all their appointments, making sure that dinner is on the table, making sure the house is in order. There’s a lot to deal with. Here are a … Continue reading →

Staying for the Sake of the Kids

Should you stay in a physically abusive situation or even a verbally abusive situation for the same of the kids? That’s the question one of our families members posed recently. Now I have to say I have never been in this position and can’t imagine being so, but I known thing, like several of you who responded to this woman’s dilemma, I think staying is not the best option. Although it might initially seem less disruptive to the children’s lives and therefore seemed better to stay and shut up and ensure the children have a father, in the end it … Continue reading →