Introduction

I'm the single mom of an independent, creative, soon-to-be-five year old daughter. Parenting is always an adventure, but going it alone is even more so because of the absence of another adult to talk to, tag-team with, give mutual support, and generally balance things out. I have an awesome support network of family and friends who have always been willing to babysit, include my daughter on outings, listen to me whine about my first-world single mom problems and offer support & solutions. They are just plain wonderful people who are there for me in general, and I cherish them dearly. Still, it's not the same as having another adult who lives in the same house and is equally responsible for everything.*

One of my biggest parenting flaws is my inability to see the bigger picture. All this "live in the moment" crap is counter-productive when being "in the moment" means focusing directly on the crazy/disgusting/dangerous thing your kid just did without being able to take a step back and see it for what it is: a learning opportunity. That requires a larger-scale perspective.

I have a natural ability to hit the ceiling in .00001 seconds whenever my daughter does something insanely kid-like (read: anything that makes you think, "how the hell did it even occur to you to do that?") Anyone who has been around kids for any amount of time knows that those moments can happen every five seconds, which brings me to my purpose in creating this blog: I need perspective.

I know myself well enough to recognize that having this blog will be enough of a distraction to prevent me from further scarring my child; she has already developed the cowering cringe whenever I give "the sigh" because she knows an angry lecture is coming. When I'm not in Rage-Mom mode, she tends to get a major attitude when she doesn't get her way, and I can't really blame her because I've modeled it for her. If I can get my mind on a track of "oh, this is SO going in my blog!" instead of my typical "what were you thinking/what's wrong with you???" mindset, it could help me become a better parent. Maybe. It's worth a try, anyway.

I'm leading off with a couple of pieces I've already written about parenting in general, and I'll update when I can. I'm certainly never lacking for material (<---understatement of the year).


*Shout out to all the married single moms: married moms whose spouses are overgrown children. I salute you.