When you’re a stressed-out single parent, you need every reassurance that you’re doing right by your kids. Sure, raising them on your own is fulfilling, but it’s also totally exhausting.
With that in mind, we’ve gathered 10 relatable quotes from HuffPost bloggers to remind you that your kids will be fine. (And that you’re definitely not the only who really needs a kid-free day off!)
1. “You are enough. I feel like I lost a lot of the joy that’s supposed to come with motherhood in those early days. Taking her trick-or-treating, to see Santa, or simply giving her a bath all felt incomplete. I didn’t soak in the moments like I should have. I was too busy being upset that it was just me. I hated the thought of all of her memories being just me. Was she having fun with me? What about the moments where I lost my patience and there was no one to take over? Someone finally told me, not long after I realized that a divorce was really happening, that I was enough. I was always going to be enough for her. Sure, other people would be around. She would have a father and extended family. But me? I was always, always going to be enough for her.” ― Samantha Darby Sollenberger
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3. "Being a dad is not always easy. The life balance of being a single parent teeter-totters between my children's happiness and my own. I've heard parents say, 'As long as my children are happy then I am happy.' That, my friends, is false. In order for my children to be happy, I must be happy first." -- Jon Vaughn
4. "At times I feel like life is asking me to draw from empty places. I have to be fun, super patient mom even when my reserve is on empty ... Yes, I love my daughter but at times when she hits me with question number 9,869 in the same hour I want to scream. Sometimes I really don't feel like having a conversation about whether or not I think God gets hungry or answering 'So mommy where was I before I was in your belly?'" -- Shanita Hubbard
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6."Life was supposed to look much different for this thirty-year-old. [But] instead of stewing over how hard single parenthood can be, I remember back to a time where all I wanted was a child, and I thank God for the two healthy, beautiful ones I've been given." -- Lindsey Light
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8. "I know I will raise [my daughter]. I know I will continue to put my all into it. I know because in so many ways I raised myself. I know because this is who I am, and I am relentless, and I refuse to let my fear paralyze me." -- Vanessa Martir
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10. I wouldn't wish divorce or separation or years in family court or having to explain why Mommy and Daddy aren't together anymore to any mother. I didn't wish this path for my child. It has not been simple or swift or without tears. Yet, I am happier and healthier and have a bigger life than I ever could have dreamed in those begging moments of early motherhood. And while a big, emotional story in my son's narrative will likely always be that his parents are no longer together, I am not sorry for him or for the choices I made to end my marriage. Instead, I am thankful for the grace of moving through the hard parts to a much better place. That's a blessing we both carry, even when we don't always know we already have it in hand." -- Jessica Ashley
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