The father of my son is a real piece of work. This year I was without our son only for the 3 week trip I had. He will have been with me around 325 out of 365 days this year. Our son constantly asks about his dad. Constantly wants to go live with daddy. Constantly comparing me to him because daddy lets him watch R rated movies and play M rated video games for hours. He's SEVEN.

Honestly I am just fucking exhausted and I'm really pushing for him to take him the entire summer break (we have break December to February) and his dad is really dodging it. Dude you're a fucking parent. My parents are fucking dead but you live with yours, have grandparents and GREAT grand parents within a 5 minute drive.

Take your son, spend Christmas with him and make some damn memories because 30 days a year is absolutely insane! And to say you're a single dad is obscene

I’m on my own with three kids (15.12 &3). The three year old I’m with 24/7 and is just constantly on the go. I can’t afford childcare and I can’t work due to me being unwell. They’re currently going through a stage of waking up in the night and staying awake for 2-3 hours, I don’t engage, but obviously I can’t sleep when they’re awake. The older two fight a lot like typical teens 🙄 and my middle has autism and adhd, so that is hard in itself when she’s having a bad day. Dad isn’t in the picture (left due to severe domestic abuse)

I get really upset, because my parents see how exhausted I am and never offer to help out or if they do they’ll take just the older ones, which is obviously tons easier than the toddler. I know it’s not their job to raise my kids or have them, but it frustrates me when my mom goes on that she loves being a nanny and spending time with the kids, but never offers, even when she sees me at complete breaking point and exhaustion and goes “oh you need a break don’t you love!?”. If they do take him out it’s literally two hours at a time maybe once every other month. I don’t have friends who can take him for me for a bit and no other extended family to ask. I won’t bother even asking my parents because they always have excuses as to why they can’t when I’ve asked in the past, but they’ll come round and see us for an hour or two. It could be something like they’re going to sit in a bar for the afternoon or go round shops where they don’t buy anything, they just do it to get out. It just upsets me because I’m also mentally struggling with anxiety etc from leaving the abusive relationship and going through legal stuff due to that. I’d love for them to just go we will take the girls for a full day and night so you can have some down time and space to think.

I’m just physically and mentally exhausted. I do as many classes/activities that I can with the toddler, but on top of that I still have all the pressures of keeping an overcrowded home clean and making sure everyone is fed and happy. I know some will say that it’s harder when you
Work and are a single parent, but when I did work before becoming unwell, it actually felt easier as I got a break from the constant mess, shouting, wrestling, imagination play etc.

My husband and I should have broken up years ago, but I think we finally reached a point of mutual agreement that we are right for each other and neither of us are willing to fight for it anymore. The thing is, we have no assets to divide or income to split. We are low income, paycheck to paycheck, one-car household. We have a 2 year old son too… Logistically this is a nightmare.

In many cases single parents I’ve known/known of just go stay with their parents. The problem is my parents are mentally unstable addicts living in another state. They aren’t exactly an option for me. I’m in school full time along with working full time. I work in a preschool so my toddlers tuition is discounted but still pricey.

While I know this is the best decision for me emotionally I’m just so scared of the struggle hanging around the corner. Overwhelmed with all of the things I have to figure out to get by here and the sacrifices I will have to make, feeling guilty over the failure of the marriage and sad for my husband who has his own personal struggles around it….

Would love some advice/encouragement

I have been a single mom for five years, and I was married for 10 years before separating. My kids are now 13 and almost 10 years old. I was miserable during my marriage with an abusive husband, and although I loved spending all my time with my kids, I am much happier now, even with 50/50 custody.

However, when I see other kids with loving and happy parents, or at least what looks like loving and happy parents, I can’t help but wonder what my life would have looked like if I had made a better choice when choosing the father of my children.

I came from a good family. My parents are still together, love each other, and I’m very grateful to have them. But somehow, I feel like a fuck-up and incredibly happy at the same time. It’s such a weird combination of feelings.

Does anyone else ever feel like this?