Parents Dating

You will be glad to know that even if you are single parenting, that you can raise an emotionally-strong child.  A lot of this has to do with how you handle events in your life and how you teach your children to handle them.  Remember that children learn more from what they hear and see than from what you tell them.

Here are some tips on single parenting that will help you raise an emotionally-strong child:

• Remember that your child is still a child and is not an adult so don’t expose your child to adult issues. Don’t let your child in on the pressures of finances, troubles with your boss, or lack of support from your ex, for example.  This will just cause undue stress on your child.  This may sound common sense, but I know someone who treats her child as her friend.  You are still the parent and there are things that children just don’t need to know when they are children.
• Ensure you have adult supports – These adult supports should be friends and family (although I know that family may not always live close by).  This will keep you from needing to rely on your child for emotional support.  These adult supports can provide you with someone adult to speak to about adult subjects and issues.  Adult supports can also come in handy when you are needing someone to help you with your children.
• Choose to date wisely and to be discreet about it – Other posts I have written have discussed this in much more detail, but what I’m referring to is making sure not to introduce your child to every date you have.  This will just create confusion and lack of security in your child.  Your child may even be afraid that this new person you are dating is going to take you away from them.  Even better, call someone you are dating, your friend rather than your boyfriend or girlfriend.  My children have friends who are going through this right now.  They have finally been introduced to the man that their mother is dating, but they prefer to call him her “friend” and not her “boyfriend.”  To them, boyfriend is just too serious of a term to be using.

Further tips on single parenting can be found by clicking here for more tips on single parents raising children who are strong emotionally.