Firstly, I do appreciate I am not a lone parent entirely. But I have 3 year old twins, and their Dad only has them for 2 nights every other week. So 12 days out of 14, they are with me.
They are lovely children, but extremely high energy and I have to keep a constant eye on them.
On top of this I work in a job which is highly pressured, I’m not in a position to reduce my hours. Every morning is an early start before getting them to preschool, then I am working. I rely on family to do the pick ups and bringing them home, then I finish work, do the bedtime routine etc… by the time they’re in bed I’m totally wiped out and exhausted.
I take care of everything, preschool fees, clothes, medical, shopping, food, household bills etc. Then once a fortnight their Dad will pop up and collect them, they’ll be over the moon because he’s got the energy and the time to be “fun dad” and then they return 2 days later; out of sorts, hyped on sh*t food etc etc…
Ex-DH does pay CM but it barely covers what it costs to keep things going.
I was married to their Dad for 10+ years and we split (due to his infidelities) when the twins were less than a year old and I’ve been doing it alone ever since.
when will this all get easier? I feel like I’m constantly in fight or flight mode. Always tired. Never truly able to enjoy parenting the way I thought I would because there’s always something that needs my attention to keep things running!