We’ve all had feelings of guilt about the fact that we’re at work when our children are being looked after by other adults. At the outset of this phase for me (7 years ago), I found it hard to get my head around. But I’ve come to understand that there are benefits to being a working single parent and they’re totally worth focusing on.
We’ve all had feelings of guilt about the fact that we’re at
work when our children are being looked after by other adults. At the
outset of this phase for me (7 years ago), I found it hard to get my head
around. But I’ve come to understand that there are benefits to
being a working single parent and they’re totally worth focusing on.
We juggle both the protecting and the providing roles as a single parent.
It’s demanding; there’s no doubt. It’s all the more important then, to remind
ourselves of some of the benefits of getting out there into the working
world. In doing so we:
1. Model a ‘Can Do’ Mindset To Our Children
The routine of getting out of the house in the morning, getting the children to
school, nursery or to the child-minder, traveling to work with thousands of
other commuters, engaging in office communications, decision making,
networking, continual learning and the delivery of results … this is all
positive! And it’s this attitude we bring back to our family at the end
of the day. The children see that ‘If you make a decision that you want
something – you can surely make it happen!’
2. Raise Your Living Standard
Bringing in a salary to the household allows working single parents to have
increasingly greater choices in how we raise the living standards for our
children and ourselves, year after year. Choices in food, clothing, the
house we live in, clubs we join, holidays we go on and education we’re exposed
to.
3. Develop Resourcefulness
We coordinate clothing, feeding, schooling, clubs, childcare and self care for
our children every day. If one of these things isn’t in place, we apply
the back-up plan (and there has to be one!). For our work we manage
people, tasks and politics in varying degrees and for our homes we manage
shopping, cooking, cleaning, budgeting and socializing. What does this
tell you about you then? That you can do ANYTHING
you want to when you put your mind to it. Anything!!
4. Increase Your Independence
The ability to be in control of the household income is empowering. It
takes away dependence on others – whether that’s another parent, a family
member, a partner or the state. There’s nothing wrong with having someone
contribute to the upkeep of your family. However, there’s a freedom that
comes to us as a working single parents
from knowing that you have talents that are valued by others, enough for them
to pay you a fee or a salary.
5. Gain Confidence
Confidence is defined like this, “Belief in oneself and one's powers or
abilities; self-confidence; self-reliance; assurance”.
And again, it’s not just that we build ourselves up by
taking our skills to market and working part or full time. We also model
to our children that anything can be achieved when we set our minds to
it. There’s so much more than a simple salary to be gained in our role as
a working single parent.
Jennifer Broadley is
a qualified executive coach and the founder of Successful Single Parenting. For
more information and a FR*EE Special Report
“ The 5 Secrets for Successful Single Parenting” visit: http://www.successfulsingleparenting.com
