Third time in a month this has happened. AIBU?

[dollywashers]

I am a single parent. Been on my own since my kids were 19 months and 6 weeks. Their dad is not around and pays no child support.
For the third time in 6 weeks I've had someone say "oh I'm just like a single parent, my husband works away". Wtf! Husband working away is nothing like being a single parent. Firstly he comes back eventually. Secondly he is out earning money for your family so you don't have all the pressure of making sure there's enough money coming in. There are loads of other differences too.AIBU?

There are a lot of different aspects to being a single parent, and some of those aspects are the same when your dh/dh works away for long periods of time. So I think YAB a bit U.

Everyone has different experiences of being a single parent, one of my friends has just been left by her dh, obviously she is devestated but she has also been surprised to discover that she is better off financially now thanks to lone parent benefits. When I was a single parent, I still had a lot of support from my ex, but I was no less a single parent.

We aren't in competition with each other about who has it hardest. Single parenthood comes in many forms, just like marriages do.

It can be harder if you have a partner who is sometimes there and sometimes not. When it is just me, I have my routine and rules. Then DH comes back and it all goes to pot. Sometimes I wish I was a SP and didn't have the stress!

Penis Have you experienced being a single parent?

yep. And?

Because your response was pretty strong so I was assuming it came from personal experience. I'm a single parent and to be honest I'm much happier than when I was in a relationship (he was absent with work). It can be a nightmare tho like when I was taken into hospital urgently and had to stay in and have no relatives anywhere near where I live. It's times like that you feel very alone. Friends helped and eventually family when they got here but thats probably the only time I wished I wasn't on my own.

My response is that no-one knows what trouble anyone else has, and I can't abide the stock lone parent schtick of "my life is so much harder than yours". It's embarrassing for the rest of us.

Mine's better lol. Because I was with a complete nightmare and now I only have to be answerable to myself.