For the Single Mothers (And Fathers)

To all the single moms (and dads) out there, you're my superheroes in disguise. I'm on day 15 of this solo parenting marathon, juggling kids, home, and work like a circus elephant on a balancing ball. My husband has been out of town for the 15 days, and there have been moments when I've been at my wits end.

My kids and I have looked forward to school and work. The kids bolt away from me like I'm the boogeyman as soon as their daycare class doors open. Those few hours of separation are our key to survival. But then, the weekend arrives like an uninvited guest for the three of us. I am in high demand but so is the laundry, grocery shopping, dishes, house cleaning and everything else that comes with being a parent and adult.

During the first weekend, my daughter and I reached a point in our disagreements that TV and iPad privileges were revoked (which will always be a punishment for the parents more so than the kids). By the second weekend, my daughter and I pinky-swore it would be better, and it was... just not by much. Now, we're in our third weekend, and my son has decided to spice things up with the hand/foot/mouth virus. It's been a week of crankiness and sleepless nights, with him fussing like a tiny, disgruntled alarm clock. I couldn't understand what was going on with him as he had no symptoms. Then the blisters appeared, and I had my "aha" moment.

He's on the mend, but I've had to take three days off work to nurse him back to health. My daughter stayed home too because I wasn't about to let her become a tiny virus courier to her classmates. This is what single parents go through. They're the solo act. If a child gets sick, it's all on them. No tag-teaming with a spouse, no splitting the workday. It's just the single parent, calling all the shots and shouldering all the responsibilities.

In my case, I know it's temporary, and I just need to soldier through. But for single parents whose situation isn't a temporary gig, you truly have my utmost respect. Balancing a career and then coming home to tackle the second job is no small feat. It requires the skills of a master juggler to keep everything from crashing down. Every day, the strategy you employ to stay afloat leaves me in awe.

And it's not just tending to the kids. It's the cleaning. Heaven help me. My husband, aka The Roomba, is sorely missed. Dishes don't magically clean themselves after bath time like they do when he's around. The kids' toys don't magically hop back into the toy cabinet while I'm getting the kids ready for bed. Nope, I come downstairs to a toy explosion and the dinner dishes still on the table, all of which taunts me.

We've got 4 days left until my husband returns. But since he's in a different time zone (10 hours ahead), he'll be jet-lagged for a few days. So, my plan is to hold it together for another 8 days. That gets us through another weekend and into a new week of school and work. We can do this!

And for the single parents with no tag team lifeline, you make your own rules. You make it work in the way that suits you best. If it's mac & cheese two nights a week, then so be it. I've learned that my kids' memories revolve around our time together, not whether I repeated a meal in a week. And if my 5-year-old notices spaghetti twice, I just throw in ice cream for dessert to distract her from calling out my meal planning faux pas!

--Amber