Workhorse

All single parents out there – I Salute You

By Phil/Kords | Published 3 April 2021 | No Comments

Single parents could be a single unmarried mom, a child whose mother has abandoned – the father is looking after them. It is also possible when the mother or father has passed away. Then there is the extreme attribution of divorced parents. 

I began to think about single parents ever since I have become a parent – no not a single parent. One parent alone cannot take care of their child. In this post, I will share my experience as a parent – taking care of my nearly 7-month old daughter – Pandora. 

I will compare this experience with single parents assuming how they go about doing their work. 

How does my family of three take care of Pandora:  

First, you must understand – Pandora is not my daughter’s real name, it is neither her pet name nor do I address her by that name. Just like Phil is my pseudonym – so is Pandora.

The initial first three months after Pandora was born, I used to put her to sleep. I sing her lullabies. Take her in my arms and stroll with her in the house. She likes it that and it also speeds up her falling asleep. 

When Phoebe is busy preparing lunch or dinner or helping my mom in the process, I take care of her. Similarly, mom and Phoebe will switch roles by taking turns. 

The benefit of having three members looking after one child is plenty. Phoebe helps mom in the kitchen from time to time. This is the moment when I take care of her. Some times, I have to attend to my work – YouTubing, researching, blogging, reading, learning and creating music. When I have to do recording, video capture or anything relating to it, Phoebe or mom take over the responsibility. 

When mom is busy with other things, talking to her cousins, relatives and friends (mom is an extrovert), Phoebe or I take over. 

The way things play out is simple. Either one of the three is always present to take care of Pandora at a given time.

There are instances when there are only two of us – Phoebe and me. It is during this time that things tend to get challenging. I have to sacrifice my PC time to give her complete attention. It’s a pledge that I took when Pandora was born: Pandora will always come first. She will always be my topmost priority – come what may. 

As you can see, with three family members, we can easily shift the responsibility of caring for Pandora. When two of us are busy with other work, the third one is always present to take over. And, that could be any of us. 

Enter – Single parent:

Single parent – let me generalise this so that I can derive a common meaning from it. 

A single parent may or may not have relatives or friends readily available. His or her immediate relatives may not be present full-time. 

Imagine a single parent in my scenario where three people exist to shift caregiving to a child. Now imagine the current pandemic scenario where no helping hand can come. The single parents are all by themselves caring for their child, looking after them, doing the household chores and working from home. 

That’s how the thought came to my head about single parents and the rigmarole they have to go through. It’s not their fault, but they have to put up with it until things get back to normal. I find them as resilient, strong emotionally, mentally and physically. I possess all of these qualities but I am nowhere close to what a single parent can do. 

Think about it.

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