My feed
Premium

Please
or
to access all these features

Use our Single Parent forum to speak to other parents raising a child alone.

Lone parents

Does it get any better?

1 reply

GroundHogLife · 29/02/2016 19:09

I'm going through a rough patch at the moment; separated from STBXH last summer and currently going through the divorce financials.

It is tough going right now. I had a few moments this weekend where I thought about walking away and giving up residency to ex. Life is a slog and I can't see much of a brighter future.

My son is 2. I work from approx 8-6 every day, Mon - Friday. I earn a reasonable salary (circa 40k) and receive about £650 a month in maintenance, but by the time I've paid childcare, bills and met my son's needs, there's nothing left for me. My evenings are spent catching up on household chores, and the odd spot of work admin. I've not had any time to myself since the separation last year. There's no family support to rely on: just me.

I'm 32 and I can't see much ahead other than more of the same. I get quite upset when I think about whether this is all life is from now on.

Does it get any better? Or does it just get harder as the years pass?

OP posts:
Report
Oldladyfish · 29/02/2016 19:17

Being a single parent to a 2yr old is TOUGH. My DD is now 3.5 and things are definitely easier (i was by myself with her from when she was 12 weeks, so i've done the full run so far).

My own situation is that I'm in almost every evening and my 'life' certainly looks a lot different to how it was 5 years ago when i was out every night. I can't give you much hope on that: without family support it's an absolute bitch to get a sitter and galvanise yourself at the end of a knackering work day. And the price puts you off: I used to love the cinema, and it was a real wind down, even by myself, but organising a sitter for that is, errr... not exactly viable!

If you possibly can, try not to look ahead. This is how it is NOW. things could be radically different in 6 weeks time: all kinds of changes could happen. And if they're not radically different, they'll definitely be slightly different! You are NOT doomed to how you feel now. Two is rough alone: and working full time. URK... it gets better!

Report
Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.