Parenting
How to be a mother
If you have not read this week’s essay for Leslie Morgan Steiner’s “On Balance” guest blog at WashingtonPost.com, it’s time.
I’ve always been a huge fan of Steiner’s, and I even wrote an essay last year for her about trying to date as a single mom. (And subsequently got clobbered by her readers for it.)
In “For Henry,” attorney and single mom Jill Lakin Schatz writes:
My ex-husband was chronically unemployed and totally uninterested in our child. He hit me once when Henry was a little less than six months old. The police came.
My ex-husband called the next morning from jail. “So, are you happy now? I will see you later.” The order of protection prevented him from seeing me later; three more orders of protection kept him away.
Henry and I have been on our own since then. He is four now.
The essay is a short, loving glimpse into learning how to parent on your own, as you make mistakes. It’s about wanting to be the kind of mother who “would have slain any and all dragons to keep him safe and warm and cuddled in his bed under the quilt with the brightly colored cars and trucks on it.”
But single moms, listen up: beware of those nasty comments. I don’t know what’s up with some of these wackos. Maybe they have way too much time on their hands with the holiday.
In any case, speak up if you have a moment between cranberries and pumpkin pie.
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Tags: babies, Children, Divorce, ex-husband, Family, For Henry, jail, Jill Lakin Schatz, Leslie Morgan Steiner, love, mother, On Balance, single mom, Single Moms, single motherhood, Single Parents, son, Support, Washington Post Discussion
2 comments for “How to be a mother”
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Yes, that is me on the cover, in front of my editor's sofa, in a precarious pose... You can get your own copy here:
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Rachel, I haven’t even gotten to your current article link; I just made it through last year’s guest post and many of the comments. You, my friend, are a tough cookie to put yourself out there with an honest and introspective view of what’s worked and maybe what hasn’t in life. My synopsis: both you and Mae will do fine in this world — as we all will. It’s all the other ignorant, self-righteous people who can’t see beyond their noses I worry about. (Then again, why lose sleep over them?)
honestly, I am sometimes amazed at how and what people think when they don’t know jack about a particular situation. It’s also amazing how the Internet has opened up forums not only for healthy discussion (like here) but also for people to hide while they’re “kicking the dog” out of their own real or perceived frustrations. Ugh.
Now I’ll get to the current article
Ugh, those comments! They are like a train wreck… they made me sick to my stomach, but I couldn’t tear myself away from them. It’s crazy how self righteous people can be. One can only pity them for being so clueless.