Is this the only lone parents board on the web? *tumbleweed*

[FullySwindonian]

Is anybody else surprised at the lack of traffic on this board? I know lone parents are a minority but am I missing something? - is there a bigger lone parents forum elsewhere on the web I haven't found?

I was thinking the same the other day

I think it's because there are so many of us really and our issues are so disparate.
Things get discussed in Chat, UIBU or specific threads on travel or relationships etc because being a lone parent isn't homogeneous enough.
Being left when pregnant by your boyfriend and separated from your husband both lead to single parents but their issues are so different from birth certificates, to approaching the other parent to where the money comes from.
What's 's the point asking for advice here?

Lone parents on MN is regularly infiltrated by MRAs and posters with agendas e.g the new wives of the dead beat dads we are dealing with on a daily basis.

It goes through cycles of being supportive and then being totally invaded by those who actually have NO interest in providing support or information and it gets tiresome when the same suspects creep in . So regulars tend to stop posting and then come back with a name change.

Boils my piss

Agree with Acti- when I joined here years ago this board was thriving. It has slowly gone to shit by as pointed out below, people with an agenda that have nothing to do with being an LP.

I'm sometimes too tired to post and say anything constructive.

Lots of the threads on LP's are serious, and rightly so. I don't want to waffle on if I can't help.

I don't often post about day to day stuff as I don't want my ex to recognise me from things I say.
But that means that a lot of stuff I'd like to discuss to gain support, I don't say...

Well there's only so much to say about it. Plus, I feel I have little in common with divorced couples who share custody etc. Raised ds alone since birth and he doesn't see his dad.

That's such a shame. I always check in here as I do find it helpful to read through the comments of those in a similar position. Have looks at the single parent boards and threads on Netmums, Natural Mamas and Gingerbread but there's not much action there either. Business opportunity for a community-minded web entrepreneur? Though how you'd monetise it beyond adverts I have no idea, which is why i'm not one.

floozey yy, I'm doing it on my own, abusive XP went 5yrs ago when the DC's were small so I can't help with co-parenting. And I was bloody glad when he went so I can't help anyone who is struggling with a break up.

I'm always happy to listen to a moan though.

I feel that there is more to me than being a LP and so only come here when I have a specific LP question.

I also find, like floozey that I have little in common with LP's who have every-other weekend off. I have DS all of the time, bar a few nights per year when he goes to my mum's.

I know how benefits work, I know how our lives work. If DS or I have a problem, most of the time, it's a normal childhood or human problem.

I've also set up a support group in RL to help other local single parents - but now that DS is 6, I have noticed that most of the things we are going through are also relevant for most children his age and so don't need to ask Qs on a LP board.

Perhaps try Gingerbread if you want more traffic as that's only for LPs.

I suppose really, the bottom line is that there's just more to me than my LP status - lovely how people assume I have a loving husband at home while I tour the country with DS and that I don't have LONE PARENT tattooed across my forehead.

I agree shared parenting is very different to doing it alone, but then doing it alone with parents who frequently look after kids is different.

I am however out the other side. I have been through the crap. DS and myself just get on with it.

I do check in here when I see a post I can help with I do. I don't post much though as I am used to doing it alone.

pressed post too early.

I do think though it is useful to post here as actually a LP does understand it more than a none LP. It is a shame it isn't used more