Anonymous wrote:I'm a single dad with full time custody with an ex who has no visitation. It's BUSY. I work full time, run the kids to their activities, do homework checks, cook, clean, and spend time hanging out chatting etc. That's Monday through Friday. The weekends are spent at sports tournaments and other activities. Now that my kids are older (teenagers), there is a bit more time to myself, but between working and parenting, I am just now slowly but surely building a circle of friends to do "social" things with. When the kids were younger money was tight so I couldn't afford sitters because that would literally be taking money away from the kids. Now that they are older, I do get a bit of free time, but not much. I think teenagers need as much "supervision" (i.e. home but not in their grill, available, but not necessarily bothering them) as smaller kids in a way.

I imagine empty nesting will be a big change. I'll be 44, so it's strange to think in six years I will be all alone.

I am a single mom and honestly I could have written your post word for word!

I have friends who are constantly asking me when I am going to get married. I really just don't have the time or energy to even devote to looking for someone to date much less a relationship.

I'm a single mom - and I seem to be an outlier at her MCPS school. Wish I could connect with more single parents as well.

I'm a single dad with full time custody with an ex who has no visitation. It's BUSY. I work full time, run the kids to their activities, do homework checks, cook, clean, and spend time hanging out chatting etc. That's Monday through Friday. The weekends are spent at sports tournaments and other activities. Now that my kids are older (teenagers), there is a bit more time to myself, but between working and parenting, I am just now slowly but surely building a circle of friends to do "social" things with. When the kids were younger money was tight so I couldn't afford sitters because that would literally be taking money away from the kids. Now that they are older, I do get a bit of free time, but not much. I think teenagers need as much "supervision" (i.e. home but not in their grill, available, but not necessarily bothering them) as smaller kids in a way.

I imagine empty nesting will be a big change. I'll be 44, so it's strange to think in six years I will be all alone.

I swear we are out here, OP. I'm no longer single, but I was a single parent for a decade. I swear, we exist.

Your home is a lot less broken, I'll bet, than when you lived with someone who hit you. NEVER EVER FORGET that you are fierce for leaving!

Honestly, I met my village through roller derby.

I'm the only single parent at my child's preschool - and there are 70 families.

My schedule would allow me to go out a few times a month, but it's very hard to find people with that flexibility.

Anonymous wrote:Sorry I can't help with resources, but it sounds like your previous home was broken, not your current one.

Thsnks for that ! (((Hugs)))

I need single mom friends too!!!

There are plenty of single parents in the DC area. First, get rid of the term broken home. I am a single mom by choice and I proudly say that my home is a peaceful home full of love--no matter the number of occupants.

Where do you live, we can start to suggest networking/meetup opportunities with other single parents. My friends condo building in Silver Spring, zoned for Rock Creek Forest, has tons of single moms.

I know lots of single parents. But frankly, it's even harder to get together with my single mom friends than with my child-free friends or married mom friends because our custody schedules never coincide. Or their kids' naptime conflicts with our free time and my gym daycare availability conflicts with their free time.

I'm social, but pretty tapped out. When my ex has my daughter, I go out with my kid-free friends. But the rest of the time we're balancing a buttload of activities - sports, dance, girl scouts, pta stuff, cultural stuff, other volunteer stuff, my workouts, house cleaning, yard work, errands. I find myself saying "yes, we should do a playdate" but it never gets scheduled because we're all so busy.

hang in there. If your kid is really young, it's just a matter of time before there'll be more divorces. Also, some of them are quiet about it - most people from my daughter's school don't actually know I'm single until I specifically tell them because my daughter's dad shows up to stuff with me and we get along.

I figured out who the other divorced or single moms were in DC's daycare. We formed a village and 11 years later, it is still going strong. Many of us now have new partners, but we keep meeting and helping each other out.

I'm a single parent. There are meetup groups for single parents. You can search in your area. Full disclosure, I signed up for the one by me 2(?) years ago and have yet to make it to an event. I have full custody so weekends are busy with errands and naps and then I collapse at night.

I"m so sorry OP. This must be tough. Are you a member of a church?

Where do you live, OP?

Sorry I can't help with resources, but it sounds like your previous home was broken, not your current one.

Why am I the only single parent I know? It's depressing. Just off a weekend of bday parties with couples showing up with their kid. My poor kid is probably the only kid in her class from a broken home. I got divorced bc my ex was hitting me- before anyone blaming me for being divorced. Are there organizations for single moms? Where do I get support?