Bette’s Blog
Single Mothers: Parenting One Day at a Time in Autumn
Have you ever noticed how autumn brings so many changes in your children's lives--and yours? So much to attend to all at once. New grade in school, maybe a new school, maybe a nest fly-out, maybe school for the first time, soccer, football, tennis, ballet, modern dance, the class play, a visit to college, and all these multiplied by the number of children you have. [...]
Single Mothers: Parenting One Day at a Time in Autumn
Have you ever noticed how autumn brings so many changes in your children’s lives–and yours? So much to attend to all at once. New grade in school, maybe a new school, maybe a nest fly-out, maybe school for the first time, soccer, football, tennis, ballet, modern dance, the class play, a visit to college, and all these multiplied by the number of children you have. [...]
Did You Know That There are Almost Ten Million Single Mothers?
Trekking the path of single motherhood can sometimes feel as if it is straight up the mountain with no help to cook and make camp. At times loneliness may feel like the only companion. However, we single mothers are strong, resilient, courageous women, blazing the trails for each other, and modeling the courage to carry on. There are many variations of single motherhood, and one [...]
Did You Know That There are Almost Ten Million Single Mothers?
Trekking the path of single motherhood can sometimes feel as if it is straight up the mountain with no help to cook and make camp. At times loneliness may feel like the only companion. However, we single mothers are strong, resilient, courageous women, blazing the trails for each other, and modeling the courage to carry on. There are many variations of single motherhood, and one [...]
Parenting and Patience: A Supply and Demand Situation
Did you know that many of the qualities needed for effective parenting, such as resilience, self-containment, and relaxed maturity exist within the realm of practicing patience-- a parenting commodity in high demand, and often short supply. I'd like to offer you a couple tips for increasing your supply of patience when the demand increases! These tips include ideas for boosting your store of resilience and [...]
Fun with the Kids: Summer Strategies for Parents
When parents apply a few simple all-purpose tips for creating summer fun with the kids, opportunity happens. You can increase quality time, expand connections with your children, and make summer into more fun for all. Give these simple summer strategies a try! 1. Put together an arts and crafts group for the kids. Simple ideas can be found on education.com. 2. Plan some low budget [...]
Reducing Parenting Stress: Location, Determination, and Support
Your love for your kids, your determination for them to be healthy and successful, and your willingness to support them are feelings shared by parents in all locations. However, parenting stress can be affected by geographic location, financial stability, job status, your ability to find work, your beliefs about raising kids, and the ease with which you are able to access parenting supports when you want [...]
A Season to Bloom as a Single Parent
Did you know that it is possible to bloom as a single parent in any season-- even in summer when the kids are out of school? Staying aware of how various important factors affect your children and yourself can make your parenting skills a blooming success. Four of these critical factors are embodied in a clever acronym I learned a number of years ago. HALT! (H-hungry, A-angry, [...]