My wife and I are all about team parenting and working together to raise our child. You know, like the way that parents do. But somedays you have to be the single parent and be with your child all day long.
During the summer my wife teaches sewing Monday – Thursday. I had a day off and had our son the whole day and what an adventure it was. It’s just so funny though because I am such a planner and you just can’t plan a day when you have a active baby. You are at their mercy and try to get as much done as you can while they are sleeping. When he is awake though, it’s what makes him happy. We try to do some grocery shopping, laundry, cleaning, but lately he has been a little clingy. He wants our undivided attention, I don’t know where he gets that from.
When he is awake he has to be held. I love it because a lot of the time he doesn’t want to be held. He wants to be playing around on the floor, crawling up everything, and finding adventures around every corner. So you have to chase him all over the place. He is up, down and wants whatever he doesn’t have. He is also climbing up to everything so our house is getting totally baby proofed.
But then there are those days when he won’t go down for a nap, screams all day, nothing makes him happy, and he has to be held. You can’t get anything done holding him and the screaming can get to you. This kid has a scream that could kill a person. So high pitched and just gets you.
The fortunate part for us though is that we have someone that comes home at the end of the day. When I get home, even if I don’t do anything, my wife feels relaxed and feels like she has someone to help. It’s a little ray of hope during the hard moments to handle.
It just opened my eyes to thinking more about all the single parents out there. They don’t have anyone that comes home after work to give them a little break from the screaming, constant holding, and chasing. Having a teammate makes it so much easier and doing it alone today helped me realize that as a dad I can help just by being home and taking our son aside and playing with him.
Even if I just come home and put him to bed, that is still time that my wife gets to have a little break and relax. I just wish that there was a way to help those single parents out there, but for all you single parents know that we get it and you are a whole lot stronger than me. I couldn’t do it and I look up to you for being strong and working so hard for your family. You get my standing ovation and believe me I don’t just give those out to anyone.