Jump Houses: THE Source for Your Child’s Daily Lead Allowance!

By sarajean on 8/29/10 6:17am
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When I read this, my heart absolutely sank. My child loves bounce houses. When she was a preemie, she had a sensory issue where she needed constant input and bounced or rocked all of the time. She still rocks sometimes as a self-soothing mechanism. Two of the things we came up with in a plan with her physical therapist (who, by the way, was made of awesome) were 1. using a bouncer that you sit on and hop all over the house with and 2. taking her to places like the park to swing and the bounce houses to jump around.

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STFU, Phyllis Schlafly

By sarajean on 7/31/10 7:55am
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Phyllis Schlafly's latest political ambition is to badmouth a pretty easy target: single moms. Any woman who is against feminism is already highly suspect in my book—especially one who is an attorney and an author, a fact that wouldn’t be possible without feminism; but as a mother with six kids, you’d think Schlafly could have some human decency when it comes to mothers working alone to support their children.

Not a chance.

Schlafly is raising hell about women voting for Obama because they’re single and wanting government assistance. “70% of unmarried women voted for Obama. And this is because when you kick your husband out, you’ve got to have Big Brother government as your provider.”

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Another Useless Study to Show the Inefficiency of Single Moms

By beatriz on 11/29/08 11:28am
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Whenever I come across an article like this I immediately get defensive, maybe it's my guilty conscience, or maybe it's that it spells out the obvious without offering any solution.

Sociologist Suzanne Bianchi of the University of Maryland is co-author of the study, which found that single mothers – most of whom do not have a post-secondary education – spent less quality time than do those who are married.

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Giving Thanks For a Quiet Thanksgiving Day

By motherflower on 11/28/08 9:04am
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I hope everybody had a great Thanksgiving day with their families and loved ones.  I had a very quiet Thanksgiving Day, like one I've never had before.

I was unable to attend dinner at my familiy's because I was at home very sick with a bad cold.  For the first time this year I didn't have to argue or fight with my daughter's dad about who she was going to spend the holiday weekend with.  It was a no-brainer....with him.

It wasn't that bad being alone, I did miss the food but luckily my parents live close enough that they were able to put together some leftovers for me and bring them by.

For me, I guess the reason I sometimes dread this time of year is because it brings up the complications of having to split our time with our child.  It's a time when we get greedy about her, or at least I do.  This time of brings out the bitterness of having had split up, it brings out the fight in me, the feeling of entitlement about her.

But, either he's growing up, or maybe, possibly I am, this year I gave in without a fight.  I let him take her with him for the weekend so I could get better.  There were no fights, no ugly words, no scene.  Just quiet politeness.  For that, I am grateful.

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Write A Farewell Letter to George Bush

By motherflower on 11/20/08 10:27pm
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Do you want to say good-bye to the president?  My good friends at goodbye.us would like to collect as many letters from people who want to express their feelings and opinions about our out-going president.  We've all been affected in one way or another by W's policies and I know that as a single mother I have some choice words for that man...

So, if any of you want to participate in this project go to http://goodbye.us/

What Do You Say When Your Child Asks Why?

By motherflower on 11/18/08 6:54am
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Nine years ago when her father and I split up, I was sure I was making the right choice.  My daughter was only eighteen months-old and I thought she would grow up thinking this was "normal."  I was twenty three and confident that I could do anything, including raising a child by myself.

Nine years later, here I am still going at it.  I've had my ups and I've had my downs, but I have never gone back to the relationship that changed my life forever.  The relationship that took so much from me, but that gave me a daughter.  The relationship that has taken me years to recover from, is far behind.  Her father, though, is not.  She goes with him every other weekend.  This has been the way for nine years.

So imagine my surprise when she asked me why we couldn't just get back together?

It wasn't the first time the question had come up, but this time I knew she meant it.  I could see it in her big brown eyes, that had swelled up with tears.  For the first time I realized I had been lying to myself all these years thinking that she had accepted our life as "normal."  At that moment, while the pasta boiled over(we were makong dinner together) it all hit me like a ton bricks.  All these yea

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Advice for the Messy Single Mom

By motherflower on 11/15/08 8:49am
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That's me!  I am probably one of the messiest people I know.  It's not like I was brought up this way, my father is a neat freak and my mother has always been a fairly organized lady.  So why is it that I find it so difficult to clean up after myself and my ten year-old daughter?  You would think that after nine years of being on my own I would've figure it out, but alas, I am a total slob.  My apartment looks like a college dormitory with books scattered all over the place, clothes hanging from my painting easel, shoes in every door way, it's not a pretty sight.  But I do try once a week to get it together, only to see it all unravel again by Tuesday.  When I lived with my child's father I was expected to run a tight ship, he was very much like my father, a neat freak to the T.

I've wondered many times if this isn't my way of rebelling against both him and my father.  My father used to tell me when I was growing up that I lacked discipline.  Honestly, I think I just found chores to be boring.  I was a normal child who wanted to play outside, not have to wash the dishes and clean my room.

But this whole concept of discipline really bummed me out.  As an adult I find myself feelin

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Instilling a Passion For Politics In Our Children

By motherflower on 11/6/08 8:12am
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What a trip this whole election has been!

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Love and Marriage and the Single Mom

By motherflower on 10/28/08 4:16am
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One of the most difficult decisions a single mother makes is whether or not she will re-marry.  For some, like myself, re-marrying isn't even in the horizon, since I'm still debating whether or not I want to start dating.  Ever since my split with my daughter's father nine years ago, I have been pondering if it's the right time to start dating yet. I have many friends who are also single mothers who don't give this question much thought- they just put themselves out there and have fun.  Why is this so hard for some women to do?

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Food For Thought

By motherflower on 10/16/08 11:22pm
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"Women voting for McCain is like chickens voting for Colonel Sanders."     -Cecile Richards