Single Parent

Maya asked a few questions, peered into cupboards and bedrooms in her best social-worker manner, and then left. I was sure we passed the test . . .

She sat back down to finish her homework and was seemingly on the road to recovery. But that is when the real tears began to fall and her body began to heave. I knew why instantly...

As a child of divorce whose father was awarded custody, my dad basically raised me. As a result, I felt well prepared to be a father, but not as prepared to be a mother...

Once we as parents make the decision about what is allowed and what is not, our kids will hear it in our voices.

“So does your son go the bathroom sitting down?” This question will forever top my list of “Things Not to Ask a Single Mother.”

Two years post-divorce, I had passed the initial shock and grief stages of my marriage’s dissolution. But I hadn’t yet found the way to infuse my lonely, meaningless existence with a measure of joie de vivre.

Perhaps it was nostalgia, or me trying to recapture whatever it was that I may have lost, but I started looking through some of my writing from years ago—words and experiences from a different place, and a time when bottomless sinks of dishes and baskets ...

I take off the jacket, replace it on its rack, and run out the door before the saleslady returns and I will have to explain to her what single mothers do to make it though the month...

Out of nowhere a well-dressed, kind-looking woman appeared. She smiled and said, “I can lend you the money, and you can pay me back at your convenience . . .”