Two parents raising a child can be challenging, yet alone one. However, our findings have been that children who are raised by single parents (mom or dad) can be just as happy and mentally healthy as children living with two parents.  Irrespective of whether a child experiences single parenting or dual parenting, we believe that all children will thrive when their parent’s style of parenting is nurturing, warm, sensitive, responsive and flexible.

Parents are most effective if and when they:

• If they are patient with themselves and realize there’s no such thing as perfect parenting
• Feel confident that they are doing the best they can with the tools they have.
• Want to be good parents and seek out what that looks like with their children
• Have support of families and friends who are accessible

When children go through transitions such as parental separation, divorce, death, abandonment they are thrown into a world of the unknown. Whatever caused the child to be living with the lone parent will have some emotional impact that has to be acknowledged. As the single parent, it is important to have those discussions that let the child know their emotions are normal and to help them navigate through it.

Double Duty Parenting

The responsibilities of being single mother or father increase as now you now are the sole breadwinner and caregiver for the family. It can be difficult to try to juggle building healthy relationships with your child while at the same time trying to put food on the table.  While this is the case for most single parents, there are some things we at Positive Kids can help you roll out in your family:

• How to make the most of the time you do have with your child and identify what quality time looks like
• How to become emotional available and to preserve your capacity for attention
• How do discipline undesirable behavior and maintain consistency and firmness
• How to recognize the warning signs your child may be struggling
• How to put boundaries in place for the child to manage time, devices, and self-care.
• Using the right language and developing communication skills that will work best for your child
• Setting rules around safety and security for the home.
• How to deal with your own stress and tiredness.

We are help to Help!

At Positive Kids, our parenting counsellors and coaches have tons of ideas on how to help you thrive as a single parent.  Our name speaks for itself. If you believe you can benefit from our coaching and counselling aimed at helping you be an effective single parent, please contact us info@positivekids.ca