Hi there
I am full-time working single mum to two. I have been separated from my husband for 3 1/2 years. The separation was a relief and I loved (and still do) doing things on my own with my children, but lately I feel like I want to have friends in a similar situations to share experiences and thoughts. So I thought I'd join the site to find like-minded friends. I have had a read through some of the posts on here already and I am really pleased I joined. I need to find my feet on here and hopefully once I do I'll join in some of the discussions and maybe start one or two of my own.
If there's any tips I need to know can you pass them on?
Many thanks and I look forward to making some new friends hopefully :)
Hi mamaoftwo
Looking forward to getting to know you.
I've been on my own for well over 6 years now, and find life far simpler with 'just' me and the children.
This board is brilliant for advice and a bit of company.
I think being on my own is better too, just me and my two. It's been like this now for six years on the 14th of Jan : )
I like coming here too.
Welcome mamaoftwo!
You will find random tips all over this site! But my favourite is The Best thing about being a single parent is...., Louise added the link above!
Have a look at our new article Making new friends, it may be useful to you, however if you are working full time with 2 children, hopefully we can provide the friendship and support that you are looking for here online!
If you are looking for any particular tips, please feel free to start a new thread asking the question, there will be plenty of responses.
Did you have a good Christmas? Did you celebrate New Year with the children? Are you back at work now?
Hi everyone
Thanks for your replies. Louise and Anna I will have a look at the links you sent later tonight.
My son is 10 and my daughter is 5. Both went back to school today and I thought they'd be very grumpy when I got in from work but they both had good days. I miss not being able to do the school runs but thanks to my parents and the school club we get by. I work as personal advisor. It was my first day back today after nearly two weeks off - a real shock to the system.
We had a good Christmas, thank you. It went far too fast though. One thing I forgot though was to ask santa for a larger house.... to put all the presents the children got in. LOL. I was with my children for the whole time as their dad moved abroad back in September. New Year's Eve was great. We spent it with a friend and her son - played games, had dinner and saw 2011 in together.
Hi sparklinglime and Bubblegum - nice to meet you both - I look forward to getting to know you too. Life is much simpler with just the children I must admit. I'm glad I found this site :)
Hope you all had a good time at Christmas and New Year!
Hi mamaoftwo. Welcome along from me too. It is a lovely site, and you'll meet lots of 'friends' here. I've been on my own since the pregnancy. My gorgeous son is now 8. No contact with his sperm doner!! How are the children now your ex lives abroad? That must be hard on them, or have they adjusted to the change? Look forward to chatting. Take care
Thanks Alisoncam. Well he first moved abroad (back to his homeland) 3 1/2 years ago when we decided to separate, with the intention of not coming back, however he did after a few months. He lived nearby and saw the children frequently.
We prepared the children well before he left again. For his own family reasons, not just due to our split, he decided to move back home again. They knew he went back to see his family but that he loves them very much. The children chat to him on skype a lot. They did miss him over Christmas but on the whole they adjusted really well.... and life is good with just the three of us.
Look forward to chatting soon.
:)
Hi mamaoftwo and welcome to the site. It is great here and I for one am so glad I found it. I have one son 15. Look forward to chatting to you.
S x
Hi mamaoftwo,
How are you tonight? Hope you are ok xxx
Hi Speedbird
Nice to meet you. I think I might be on this site quite a bit :) so I look forward to chatting with you.
x
Hiya Tiredmum
I'm good thanks? How are you? It was my first day back at work today and I am exhausted. I promised myself an early night as I need to go in early tomorrow but I am getting waylaid by this site (which is good).
Hope you are well and look forward to chatting to you.
x
Ha Ha, this site does do that to you, its really friendly on here, everyone is so nice.
I am fine thank you, I dont work, have 5 children 2 have left home but have 17, 16 teen girls and 9 year old son at home, I am now signing on for jobseekers which I find quite depressing to be honest, there are no jobs at all here paticulalry ones that fit school hours as we have no before or after school clubs.
xxx
Oh tiredmum - I could be on here for hours!!! I'm going to be good though and sign off in a minute.
The job market has been pretty slack hasn't it!! I hope your search goes well in the New Year. Let me know how you get on. If I get any good job hunting sites I'll let you know.
I'm looking for a new job, one that isn't so stressful, and preferably with shorter hours. I really miss not being home when the children get home from school and for them not to have their friends round after (I know it isn't the be-all and end-all but... I feel guilty about that for them). However, needs must and I need to pay a whopping mortgage... on my own which isn't fun.
Take care & night - chat to you soon.
xx
It is difficult to strike the right balance thats for sure.
Thank you, I`m sure something will turn up sooner or later,
Look forward to chatting again soon.
Nite xxx
Hi mamaoftwo
When you say your job is a personal advisor, is that at the job centre??
Hi Anna
I work for a provider who has links to the jobcentre.
Hope you're well :)
Hi mamaoftwo
We have just put a Ways into Work online course, specifically written for single parents onto the Your Learning part of our site.
The course is about finding the right job that combines work, with looking after a family. It also looks at voluntary work, training and education as a way to help parents get the job they want. It is also useful for parents who perhaps already work but are looking at making some changes.
Please tell anyone you think might be interested!
I am well thank you! I hope you had a good weekend?
Anna, thanks for the details of the online course - I shall have a look at it myself and will let my single parent customers know about it.
I had a good weekend, thanks. It just goes so fast. I took my two to their swimming lessons and then we had a cooking fest (which was fun but the cleaning up after wasn't lol).
Hello Mamaoftwo
Welcome and just wanted to say hi.
Hope to chat to you if i can remove the laptop from the teenagers grip lol.
Stuart
Hi there Stuart
Nice to meet you on here. Hope you're managing to get to use your laptop :) My son seems to have a lot of homework to be done on-line these days....... probably won't be long till he wants to use it more and more so I am making the most of having my pc practically to myself at the moment.
Have a good weekend :)
Lots of independent computer vendors sell off old PC's at under a hundred quid, perfect for internet browsing and 'homework'
: )
This chap near me is quite good, here's one for fifty quid.
I'm sure there must be one near where you live, there is generally one in most areas. And if you ask around lots of people have old monitors and keyboards and mice hanging around they don't want.
A friend of mine recently just asked on facebook if anyone had any old stuff hanging around and got a PC for free that someone was not using.
And if you can't afford or don't have MS Office there is Open Office which is free and compatible with MS Office, ideal for homework stuff.
Hi all, a cooking fest sounds fun mamaoftwo! What did you make? Have you seen our Food Glorious Food thread? If you have any lost cost, simple to make recipes or just firm family favourites, please let us know there!
Hi stuart and bubblegum, that sounds interesting, independent computer vendors selling off cheap PC's.
One wish that I have had for a while whilst working on One Space is to find out where big corporations dispose of their computers.....Apparently big businesses change their computers every few years and I reckon that we must be able to get our hands on some. What do you think? anyone fancy doing some research into this??
Sorry mamaoftwo, this is your thread, I am not trying to hijack it! Bubblegums message just prompted a recurring idea! Have you had any ideas about what sort of job you would like to move into?
That chap that I linked to above, he buys up old computers from buisnesses and sells them on.
My Brother in law works in Bangor Uni, it has to be disposed of within strict guidelines, not just taken to the dump, this is because of data retention laws because of the hard drives and because of lots of the hazardous metals and chemicals that go into computers.
Lots of eWaste gets recycled to poor third world countries where there are few regulations when it comes to handling hazardous materials, this is after being passed through 'recycling' contractors and shipped about the world to avoid various 'controls' on the recycling of dangerous waste.
It basically ends up in landfills and in third world countries dismantled by poorly paid exploited brown people, quite often children.
People don't generally care where their waste goes, just so long as it's not outside their house.
Greanpeace article here... and something from the BBC..
Hey bubblegum
Great idea. Will have to look into that as I can my son getting more and more homework to do online. My pc is on it's last legs at the moment as it keeps crashing. I did have an old laptop from my previous work but the connection lead doesn't fit snug into the connection hole and it used to keep switching itself off!!!!
Shocking to hear about the ewaste. I am going to read your link later.
Anna, thanks for the link to the food thread. Will have a look at that later too and might post a couple of receipes. We made lemon cookies, beefburgers and bread, and then my son wanted to do a roast chicken dinner so I let him do the majority of that (with the exception of the hot bits of course). Last summer we made pomegranite ice cream. That was fun to make though the kitchen units looked like there had been a bloodbath in the kitchen (we were using a hand blender and the juice was spurting out all over the place). My son screamed when he saw the inside of the pomegranite for some reason. He hadn't seen the inside of one before and he was a bit shocked by all the seeds. :)
You're not hijacking the thread. I'm meeting people on here... which is great.
I am looking at administration/customer service roles as those are my strong points. However maybe I should look for something different for a change, but it is hard to be too choosy when you are the only one running the household! I used to commute and work from home in my previous jobrole as a study abroad advisor. I loved that! I have a hefty job app that I am doing at the moment... I have to keep saving it in case my pc crashes :)
Well.... I have managed to get on here while my two get ready for bed... Story time beckons...
Hi mamaoftwo, the cooking sounds fun, the pomegranate story reminds me of the first time I dyed my hair, my friend came round to help me and we could not get it to run clear and it ws school pickup time so I went to the playground with purple hair and the bath looked like a scene from Jack the Ripper 
Yes please do let us have recipes, we have the food thread that Anna highlighted
Thanks for the info bubblegum, I understand the security of certain data, but surely if businesses were to be passing their computers on to the public, then the waste concern isn't theirs, it would be ours!
Hi mamaoftwo, I look forward to reading your recipes! lemon cookies....yum! Have you always liked cooking? I have a friend in London who used to run childrens cookery classes at the weekends, she has 3 children of her own, but it used to do really well. She did it for 3 years then made enough money to sell up and move to the country!
Your previous job sounded great! I would love to work in anything to do with travelling! Have you googled 'Voluntary Sector + your town/city'? There might be some interesting work around, however at the moment vacancies seems to be for fund-raisers mostly!
How is your job app going?
Hello mamaoftwo
Welcome to One Space! As you will have seen, it is a friendly group with lots of support and information available.
How old are your children?
I am glad to hear that you are happier since your separation, there are lots of threads here as you can see but you may like to contribute to The best thing about being a single parent is .....to start with
What sort of work do you do?