Parenting
Sharing happy stories about your your kids’ dad (and a tribute to my ex-husband’s hairy back)
Originally published 2013. The past few months Helena has been obsessed with family stories. “Mommy, tell me a story about when I was a baby,” she’ll ask, and I’ll tell her about how once, as a sleeping infant, her laugh broke the pin-drop silence of one of New York Public Library’s reading rooms, eliciting a…
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Who deserves to call themselves a “single mom”?
Updated May 17, 2019 Below, you will find a polite, academic picking-apart of the who-gets-to-call-themselves-a-single-mom debate. It rages on, constantly, and after 7 years of blogging about single moms (and being one myself for 9 years), I have come to this conclusion: The argument about who is, and who is not a single mom is…
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The moment this single mom found financial independence
This truth bomb from Jessica Mraz, 50, St. Paul, Minnesota: Life lesson learned yesterday. I was struggling to figure out how to pay for my son’s health insurance and medical bills since the premiums went up and my deductible changed as well as sports and guitar lessons. I got into a big argument with my…
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Why your arguments for alimony are wrong
I have a friend who had been married for 20 years. He had a high-earning career, and after spending her 20s in low-paid retail jobs, his wife stayed home full-time with the kids, until they were in high school, then worked part-time retail, tried to start a couple of craft businesses that went nowhere, and…
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How to get dads involved in divorce and separated families
Other ways to listen: iTunes ♦ Stitcher ♦ TuneIn ♦ SoundCloud ♦ Google Play This is an important episode. Terry Brennan, co-founder of Leading Women for Shared Parenting, an activist organization responsible for introducing legislation in 20 states, that makes equal, shared parenting the presumption in family court. This is a critical issue for children, who suffer…
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How to start investing, get that raise, and be respected in the workforce
Other ways to listen: iTunes ♦ Stitcher ♦ TuneIn ♦ SoundCloud ♦ Google Play Sallie Krawcheck is often cited as one of the most influential women on Wall Street. The former president of Global Wealth & Investment Management at Bank of America, and CEO of Citigroup’s Smith Barney unit, Krawcheck today is the co-founder of the female networking…
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Fighting with your kids’ dad about holiday schedule? Do this ….
The holidays are so hard for divorced and separated families. They just are. Especially if you are new to sharing the kids on the holidays. You are grieving what you thought your family would look like. What you hoped and expected your family would look like. And so much of that image is wrapped up…
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What it’s really like to be the single mom of a special needs child
Other ways to listen: iTunes ♦ Stitcher ♦ TuneIn ♦ SoundCloud ♦ Google Play While the numbers are not confirmed, experts agree that divorce rates among parents with special needs children is far higher than the general population. And since single moms of special needs kids have challenges and joys that other moms — single or otherwise…
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HavenLife Review: A policy change saved this mom $7,670
After my oldest was born, her dad and I proudly made sure we ticked every prescribed financial item on the universal to-do list, including life insurance: Open a 529 college savings account — CHECK! Have six-months cash savings so I could scale back my business to part-time and stay home with her (since he made…
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Best online therapy sites for moms
If you told me eight years ago I could find a licensed psychologist to come to my apartment in New York City for less than $150 and without spending months on a waiting list, I would have spit my latte right in your face. Today, though, it’s a different story – the utopian dream of…
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Why shared parenting is so great for kids – and for moms!
Other ways to listen: iTunes ♦ Stitcher ♦ TuneIn ♦ SoundCloud ♦ Google Play After one meeting with my ex and our lawyers to negotiate the custody agreement of our divorce, I went home, busted out the calculator, and cried. I freaked out at the idea of being away from my kids for extended hours or days, and I…
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Why single parents should put their kids second when dating
I meet most men that I date online. What do you look for when dating a man with kids? It’s very common for guys with kids to write in their eharmony.com dating profiles: “My kids come first,” or “My daughter is the center of my world!” I get where you’re coming from. You want a potential…
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Teach kids about money — in an age of no cash
In my day, even if your parents didn’t explicitly teach you about personal finance, money lessons were inherent to life: Allowance and babysitting jobs were paid in cash. Savings accounts meant coins and wadded-up singles deposited into piggy banks and the local bank branch. Charity meant writing a paper check (remember those?!) to an organization,…
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Child identity theft is real and it can ruin their credit
This post is sponsored post by Lexington Law Firm. Even if you are diligent about protecting your identity and credit online, your children can be at grave risk. A report from Javelin Strategy & Research found that in 2017, more than 1 million U.S. children were victims of identity theft, resulting in $2.6 billion in…
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Why “Nothing personal, but I don’t want to date a single mom” is totally personal
Way back at the beginning of my single mom dating shenanigans I fell in love with an older man. My kids were 1 and 3, his were in college. A few months in, I broke it off over a boozy Italian dinner. “Face it,” I said. “You don’t want to be running around with little…
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Single moms need gigolos
If I had a nickel for every time I said, “We don’t whine in this family!” I could afford to hire a gigolo for a few hours. This guy wouldn’t pole dance or get freaky on me. He’d give me a goddamn hug and cook me a reasonably nutritious meal and listen to me go…
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Stop calling your kids all the time when they’re with their dad
I wrote this last year, and am republishing it now in light that this summer season has many of us spending long stretches away from our kids, including me. What do you think? Do you talk to your kids every day when they are with their dad? Why? Or why not? Share in the comments! …
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The benefits of dating single dads
I recently went out a couple of times with a single dad whose daughter happens to be the same age as mine. We spent our first date talking about our kids and the challenges of parenting — and realizing we have a lot in common. For example, we both feel perfectly satisfied having spent our upbringings …
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Facebook is my babydaddy
I don’t have a husband. I have Facebook. As a single mom, there are lots and lots of things that I can handle really, really well. I run the house, make all the meals (mostly from scratch, I’m proud to say). I own a small business that does well enough to support us – with…
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A letter to my beautiful, beautiful, beautiful daughter
Originally posted 2013 Dear Helena, One day when you were a baby, Aunt Tina and I were smooching all over you. After all, what’s better than kissing a baby – all that smooth, perfect skin, those rolls of fat, all that love that just oozes out of them? Kisses and kisses and kisses. “We’re giving…
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