Divorce

» Jojo - I'll level with you.

I'll level with you. I am a single parent but have 1 18-year-old girl, a 4-year-old girl, and am now expecting a boy in April. So my experience with boys other than those babysat and my little brothers is minimal.

However, my mother had great birthday plans for my younger brothers, the youngest of whom just now has turned 20. Needless to say, they throw their own parties now, but they always enjoyed my mothers efforts. She would get all the parents to drop the kids off at the beach, the lake, a soccer feild or the bird sanctuary -- somewhere outdoors. She would provide as many metre-long subway sandwiches as necessary. The kids would run around like the yard apes they were.

My mother was a single mother also. Talk about a resourceful person! But our expectations did not include what other children got, and that is a very important part of single parenting. I try to make my kids focus on the prize and not the route there. The fact is, the birthday party will be fun, no matter what it includes. Is this a realistic attitude?

-- posted by Jojo