Why are there so few posts on this - the Lone Parents - board?

[Catsatrophe]

There's very little traffic on LPs. Is it because most mumsnetters are married or partnered-up? Is it because Lone Parents are still ashamed to be so? Because they're too busy doing the job of being parents they can't be bothered or haven't got time to post on LPs?

Not many Lone Parents read this board it seems, and even fewer post a comment - compared to Relationships, or even the style and beauty pages - yet there must be a ton of lone parents on here surely?

Finally, most of the posts are about how to get into dating, or how to deal with courts/court orders/exes/ etc. :( It's a bit depressing because I'd love to talk about the scores of everyday problems that go with being a lone parent - like toilet roll useage when they reach puberty, like not being able to say 'WAIT UNTIL YOUR DAD GETS HOME!' About how to get the lone kid off fortnite when I work full-time all week and half the weekend, about extended family and how crap they are (or way too old to help). About when it's ok to finally go to the pub for an hour and leave your only child at home (11? 12?14?)

About..the difficulties of mothers day and fathers day.

Am I alone in thinking these kind of things about this board? Is there a better board to post on - as Lone Parents really is rubbish for these kind of issues. :(

disney - yup it's copper pipe and no, i'm not about to hack into it .

FWIW I'm pretty good at decluttering and reorganising other people's houses. The irony being I am slow to do my own . I helped a single mum friend sell her house by packing it all up/painting/gardening (general not landscaping or anything!) and cleaning.

So what general ideas do people want to learn? I'm formulating a rough plan as someone I know is a handy man.He has done tiling/fitting new bathrooms/skirting boards/paving/turfing that I can think of off the top of my head. He doesn't live near me but I could potentially ask him if he could do a basics day session if we put in enough to cover his time? He's in the South East but nearer London than me. Maybe this is a crazy idea

I always fall off these threads. I recognise a few of you from the recent parent threads but I’ve namechanged a couple of times since then ( can’t remember my name, and I’m too tired to look).

Re DIY I pay for British Gas Homecare.
Covers everything and I get my money’s worth. I reckon call out charges, Labour and parts would cost more than the annual fee. The wasp nest alone last year paid for it.

I’ve got teens. Exams, going out, girlfriends, It’s all such fucking hard work. No family around, their dad does no parenting. I have a boyfriend but I spend so much time feeling guilty that I can’t get away, have to be st a football match or a show etc etc it’s just putting a dampener on it.

I’m knackered and miserable today. I’m behind with work and my dog died.

So sorry to hear about your dog Cheeky
You have a lot on, be kind to yourself.

Yeah I came off MN for a few years but got sucked back in relatively recently although most of the names I remember seem to have gone. Funny how being back on here brings back memories of things I went through back then. Much nicer to look back on them with the emotional distance!

Woah, that was a lot of "backs"

I’m another one that always falls off these threads!
I do take comfort in sharing typical problems with other lone parents, and there are a lot of them specific to us, but I’m not sure I want to be in a sad ‘environment’ all the time.

So the DIY idea is fantastic and right up my street. I love DIY.

Sorry about your dog,cheeky, that’s awful :(

Yes, I agree 8FencingWire - we were on the same thread, along with Disney and Hamster.

See, 87% of the time I’m very, very happy. I’m capable and content. My kids are great. I have so many positives and am really proud of myself.

Not today, obviously. I want to shout at strangers in the street today.

But because we have shit XPs, and do all the hard graft, they tend to become a place to offload. Which is great, and nexessary, but there needs to be a balance.

Thanks for the kindness too. I’m gutted about my boy. X

I rarely look at the Lone Parents board, possibly because I am perfectly happy being a single parent, and don't see it as an issue needing discussion or support? Whereas I do need help finding sandals that don't hurt, or knowing whether to pay a parking ticket?

Tell you what, I’d love to meet other lone parents in RL. Just to have someone for that awful bank holiday weekend when every body is playing happy families and you find yourself alone, no picnic/gathering thing to go to.

This weekend I actually highlighted in my diary all the bank holidays, chinese new year, Eurovision, Guy fawkes night etc and I put a massive sign a month before to spur me to organise something so I’m not on my own doing nothing.

For instance, last new year’s eve, I had DD and prepared myself for a quiet night in with her. Blow me, she walks in the living at 7.30 saying she’s going over the road to her mates’, what am I doing on my own, why didn’t I organise something? Had I been on the ball, I could have organised a night in with friends or something, she would still have had the freedom to either stay in or go out. Easter this year was the same. We’re not exactly at the age we go on an Easter Egg hunt, but did I organise something? Nope!
I get the whole ‘my friends are all couples and do family stuff’. But there are enough of us lone parents too! I don’t know that many though.

LonelyTiredandLow
That's a good idea to pick up the basics of repair work, I'm just a plain old tight wad when it comes to that stuff and if that bloke can do itI can do it attitude. think from my perspective, getting to know my way around a sowing machine as the dds are into cosplay and "customising". The only time I've ever used a sowing machine was during swap week at school where the girls did wood and metalwork and the boys sowing and cooking. I managed to get the needle through my thumbnail and it was a painful bugger to get out

I’m just useless at practical stuff, can’t work out instructions, can’t knit or sew or make stuff. My head works with numbers and data, not diy 😂

I’m lucky that I have clients in all trades, plumbing, gardening, electrics, diy etc, so can usually get help at short notice in an emergency.

I’ve had one brief relationship of six months in 7 years since divorce but that just showed me I’m better off on my own than being with someone for the sake of not being alone. It was great having someone to mow the lawn though 😂

DD hasn’t seen her father for a month again, that’s hard on her, and she doesn’t now when she will next see him, it’s so sporadic.

Mood.

So I was having a little natter with a work colleague outside the building - let's call him decent dad for the time being. Well that's what I thought.

Do he says " I'm back smoking -The wife made me..."

I say " Whoa there mate, you can't say that, it's your decision and your choice she didn't make you". Me and the dds' have a long history with the phrase " You made me"

He says"Well! After what you've been through, I thought you'd be a real mysogynist" Na! Mate, you can't dismiss a whole class of people because of the behaviour of one. Also, I'm very hetro-nor active and I'd be cutting my current node off my future face if I took that attitude. The dds have green lit future relationships, only if they really - and they mean really- like someone.

So mood.

I hate that kind of passive aggressive attitude. ‘You made me’ what is he? 7?

He sounds the misogynist in that conversation

I'm just amazed men use the word misogynist to other men!
I thought it was meant to be something women made up

Having a shite day here too. Dd has come home in a foul mood and she's already had tears. Early night tonight I hope

How old is your dd? Mine is 8 and just about to go out to brownies. Never get an early night on a Tuesday.