Single Parents Town Blog

There was a slogan in the early days of the feminist movement that went something like, “A woman needs a man as much as a fish needs a bicycle.” I was part of that generation, that also said, “Don’t trust anyone over 30,” among other things equally foolish. I seem to remember that whoever said that, about not trusting someone over 30, was a rock ‘n’ roll star that still tours, now in his 60’s. I wonder if he’s changed his mind? For my money, the only good thing that came out of the sixties was the music. I just wish more performers and Hollywood in general would just stick to their craft!

My former showbiz life coincided with the breaking of the so-called glass ceiling, which was quite real for a long time. Many women were now reaching the corporate and other hierarchies that had heretofore been denied them. However, instead of bringing their feminine instincts, skills, and traits to these newfound positions, many were adopting the worst of the existing masculine behaviors and habits. They were going to be just as tough, just as hard working, and just as ruthless.

Unfortunately for that generation of women, they woke up one day, past their childbearing years, and realized they’d been sold a bill-of-goods. They may have had a pretty full Rolodex, but many were lonely, unmarried, childless, while most of their male counterparts had families and personal lives. Continue reading »

It is important to instill in all children a sense of comfort in communicating with their parents. As your child gets older, the questions and struggles that your child needs to address with you get more difficult. The queries don’t always have easy answers, but it is important to answer your child as honestly as is appropriate. As the trust and comfort builds in your child, you will realize that it is more comfortable for you, and that the scary, awkward conversations you have been dreading are now completely manageable.

As a co-parent, I have realized that there are more “big talks” that I get to address. Questions such as, “Why don’t you live with my dad anymore,” get sprinkled in with the talks about the birds and the bees. We have had some serious topics that we have had to discuss, and as my son gets older, the conversations get more difficult. But it warms my heart that he is still coming to me and asking me these questions. 

Since he was young, I have strived to approach topics with him at his level. He was only 2 when I left his dad, so there wasn’t a big talk about why his dad and I didn’t work out. The explanation was simple, “You get to have two houses now! Mommy lives here, and daddy lives at the other house.” And at two, that was all of the explanation he needed. Continue reading »

As a journalist I am all for freedom of speech and the free press. However, as a parent I find the the recent trends in celebrity “journalism” troublesome. First with the Tiger Woods scandal and now with the Jesse James-Sandra Bullock media blitz, it seems everyone –even the children– are talking about this “news.”

At our house we don’t watch the celebrity gossip shows or even the news on most nights, but the recent permeation of these two events on t.v., Internet browsers and homepages, and on magazine covers at grocery and drug stores has made it hard to miss.  The day the Jesse James story broke, it was so heavily reported my kids wanted to know who died. My boys are 10 and 12 and so they understand by varying degrees what has happened. The message is clear though: these men broke promises to their wives and “cheated,” but (allegedly) not just once, but many times.

I know these issues are not new. The private lives of previous Hollywood stars like Clint Eastwood and Warren Beatty have been grist for the rumor mill for a long, long time. But the level of the attention focused on these recent events distresses me. It isn’t something that can be ignored. Continue reading »