This must-have guide uses the latest research on the science of happiness to show single mothers how to transform feelings of fear, guilt, anxiety, and low self-esteem into feelings of power and freedom. There are 82 million mothers in the United States and Canada alone. This book is for them. Single Mother in Charge: How to Successfully Pursue Happiness employs the latest research on the science of happiness to show single moms how to be stronger, happier, and more balanced. Through it, they will learn to use their own power to improve the quality of their lives and those of their children. This hands-on guide starts with three critical lessons for personal transformation: the right belief, the right attitude, and taking action. Readers are then taught how to transform feelings of fear, anxiety, guilt, and low self-esteem into a positive, confident attitude. Once these barriers to happiness have come down, the single mother can use the 22 "happiness strategies" outlined in the book create a happier and healthier life for herself and her family.
Teenagers! You love them to pieces ... but sometimes you feel like the pieces are falling apart. Relax! Your sanity will survive these rocky teenage years, and so will your teens--provided you set healthy boundaries that work to their benefit and yours.
Written by a psychologist who's successfully navigated single motherhood herself, this book helps single moms believe they and their families deserve the best life has to offer. Packed with practical tips, smart strategies, and ways to improve the well-being of single moms and their children, this book shows single moms how to improve their leadership and parenting skills. It tackles pressing issues such as self-care, a support network, organizing, finances, discipline, and more. Teresa Whitehurst reminds single moms that they don't need to be overwhelmed and that God loves them, is on their side, and wants to guide and support them every step of the way. While they may get weary, they need never feel alone.
The Empowered Mama is a practical and interactive workbook full of simple, powerful tools to help moms reconnect with themselves on the journey through motherhood. Moms often try to juggle the roles of wife, mother, and homemaker while also being professional, competent women. Many moms feel like they can't take time to replenish their bodies and minds, despite their many roles. There's just not enough time in the day, and it seems selfish to take time when families and work still demand more. The Empowered Mama is a practical workbook full of simple, powerful tools to help you reconnect with yourself on the journey through motherhood. Author Lisa Druxman uplifts, inspires, and takes moms on a journey not just to rediscover themselves, but to fall in love with motherhood again. Whether you are a working mom or a stay-at-home mom, this book will add balance to your life. Since there will never be more hours in the day, The Empowered Mama will help you maximize the hours you do have to accomplish what matters most. This guide focuses on all parts of a mom's life—work relationships, built-up stressors, cleaning up your diet, even going green and being more mindful about the environment—all with the intuitive understanding that getting the rest of your life in order will only reap huge dividends for your family.
Nonwhite and white, rich and poor, born to an unwed mother or weathering divorce, over half of all children in the current generation will live in a single-parent family--and these children simply will not fare as well as their peers who live with both parents. This is the clear and urgent message of this powerful book. Based on four national surveys and drawing on more than a decade of research, Growing Up with a Single Parent sharply demonstrates the connection between family structure and a child's prospects for success. What are the chances that the child of a single parent will graduate from high school, go on to college, find and keep a job? Will she become a teenage mother? Will he be out of school and out of work? These are the questions the authors pursue across the spectrum of race, gender, and class. Children whose parents live apart, the authors find, are twice as likely to drop out of high school as those in two-parent families, one and a half times as likely to be idle in young adulthood, twice as likely to become single parents themselves. This study shows how divorce--particularly an attendant drop in income, parental involvement, and access to community resources--diminishes children's chances for well-being. The authors provide answers to other practical questions that many single parents may ask: Does the gender of the child or the custodial parent affect these outcomes? Does having a stepparent, a grandmother, or a nonmarital partner in the household help or hurt? Do children who stay in the same community after divorce fare better? Their data reveal that some of the advantages often associated with being white are really a function of family structure, and that some of the advantages associated with having educated parents evaporate when those parents separate. In a concluding chapter, McLanahan and Sandefur offer clear recommendations for rethinking our current policies. Single parents are here to stay, and their worsening situation is tearing at the fabric of our society. It is imperative, the authors show, that we shift more of the costs of raising children from mothers to fathers and from parents to society at large. Likewise, we must develop universal assistance programs that benefit low-income two-parent families as well as single mothers. Startling in its findings and trenchant in its analysis, Growing Up with a Single Parent will serve to inform both the personal decisions and governmental policies that affect our children's--and our nation's--future.
A Positive, Proven Approach to Single Parenting! As a single parent in our complex world, you face the challenge of doing alone a job that was meant for two people. In addition, self-doubt and guilt may dampen the joy you experience raising your child. What do you do? Over the years, millions of parents just like you have come to trust Jane Nelsen's classic POSITIVE DISCIPLINE series for its consistant, commonsense approach to child rearing. In this completely revised and updated edition of Positive Discipline for Single Parents you'll learn how to succeed as a single parent in the most important job of your life: raising a child who is responsible, respectful, and resourceful. Inside this reassuring book, you'll discover how to: ·Identify potential problems and develop skills to prevent them ·Budget time each week for family activities ·Create a respectful coparenting relationship with your former spouse ·Use nonpunitive methods to help your children make wise decisions about their behavior ·And much, much more! "Provides very important information for single parents, especially in today's violent society. Used as a resource, it can help parents deal with discipline issues in a positive way and in turn help their children become responsible citizens."—Judye Foy, international vice president, Community Relations, Parents Without Partners "Another great resource for both single parents and therapists . . . practical and enjoyable to read. A must for your parenting library."—Stephen Sprinkel, marriage and family therapist
Shirl is a single mother who urges her son's baby-sitter to swat him when he misbehaves. Helena went back to work to get off welfare, then quit to be with her small daughter. Kathy was making good money but got into cocaine and had to give up her two-year-old son during her rehabilitation. Pundits, politicians, and social critics have plenty to say about such women and their behavior. But in this book, for the first time, we hear what these women have to say for themselves. An eye-opening--and heart-rending--account from the front lines of poverty, Through My Own Eyes offers a firsthand look at how single mothers with the slimmest of resources manage from day to day. We witness their struggles to balance work and motherhood and watch as they negotiate a bewildering maze of child-care and social agencies. For three years the authors followed the lives of fourteen women from poor Boston neighborhoods, all of whom had young children and had been receiving welfare intermittently. We learn how these women keep their families on firm footing and try--frequently in vain--to gain ground. We hear how they find child-care and what they expect from it, as well as what the childcare providers have to say about serving low-income families. Holloway and Fuller view these lives in the context of family policy issues touching on the disintegration of inner cities, welfare reform, early childhood and pro-choice poverty programs.
The first handbook for the paoidly growing number of American women choosing single motherhood, written by the director of the national organization, Single Mothers by Choice.
Recent statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau show there are 9.9 million single mothers in the United States. This number is up from only 3.4 million in 1970, showing that single motherhood is more common than ever. For every mother recently finding herself single, or new moms learning how to raise their first child by themselves, there are countless things any mother will need to know. Single motherhood presents innumerable situations that are much harder to handle without the helping hands of a second parent nearby. But one of the best ways to prepare yourself for success as a single mother is to arm yourself with knowledge about what to expect with single parenting. A Complete Guide for Single Moms: Everything You Need to Know About Raising Healthy, Happy Children on Your Own is for every mother who is learning how to raise children on her own. Regardless of how you came to be a single mom whether it was through divorce, the end of a relationship, surrogacy, adoption, unplanned pregnancy, or by the death of a spouse this book will walk you through the information you need to know to help you and your child adjust to a new lifestyle. The book covers what to do when pregnant and single and how to rely on your family and friends for support and help. You will learn the basics of early childcare, including what a child needs in its first year, from breastfeeding and nappies, to clothing and travel. You will learn what to expect as your child grows, including the early years of school and the problematic teenage years. This book teaches you how to take care of yourself in addition to your children, which includes knowing how to find rest and work your way back into dating. You will learn how to prepare yourself for the sacrifices you will be forced to make and how to handle financial matters while raising a child alone. Even the difficult topics are covered, such as the first times you must discuss with your child why his or her father is not present. You will learn when you can fill in as a father figure, when you cannot, and what you can do to provide the male influence and support children need during those formative years. If your child s father is involved, this book will teach you how to work with him. You will learn how to raise a boy as a single mother and find positive role models for your children. We have conducted multiple interviews with successful single mothers, as well as with experts in child care, to provide a comprehensive outlook on everything you can expect as a single parent on your own from the first few weeks of stress to the later years of toilet training, proper diet, allergies, health care, and learning to talk. From conception to graduation, the life of a single mother is a trying, challenging road to travel. With this guide in hand, you will have what you need to raise a healthy, happy family.
