Featured single mom Shannon Buck / coutesy Shannon Buck
Happy National Unmarried and Single Americans Week! In an effort to honor all single moms, single moms will be featured throughout the week. Check in often to see how other single moms handle single-mommyhood, as well as their "single-mom confessions!"
*Thank you for your submissions, I will feature all of them throughout the week. It is not too late to be featured. If you would like to nominate yourself or someone you know, please send me an email at racheltobin@live.com answering the questions shown below*
Featured single mom: Shannon Buck
How many children do you have? I have two daughters. Skye is 19 1/2 and Zowie is 17.
What is your favorite part about being a single mom? I am the single mom of two girls who grew up without fathers in their lives. Skye's father chose not to be a part of her life, until a couple of months ago, and Zowie's father passed away when she was eight months old. While I truly feel bad about these things, I have enjoyed being a single mom. In raising my daughters, I had the ability to do so with my own belief system. Their fathers were not here to contradict me or anything, and my daughters could not play their fathers and I off each other to get their own way.
What is the most challenging part for you about being a single mom? Finances. It is hard to raise children alone with minimal income, while trying to be there for them at the same time. The $9.00 a week in child support for Skye did not go far, though Zowie's survivor benefits took care of her needs plus. I worked a lot of hours, at unfair wages. But we muddled through, and we did it well.
What is your one "single-mom confession," something you wouldn't do as a parent if you were married? Free weekends. I mean, completely free weekends. I pamper myself and lay around and watch movies or read on most of these weekends. I get to be alone. Completely alone. If I were married, then my husband would be [home] while the girls were gone. I would not get to have me time.
What is your advice to other single moms? Hang in there, and be strong. Being a single mom is not always easy, but it can be a blessing. Take care of yourself, and take care of your child(ren).
Do you have a blog that you would like mentioned? I have a few blogs, actually, that are helpful to single moms:
Other articles you may enjoy:
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Single Mom 101: Keeping up with medical bills
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Comments
Shannon - you must be really busy keeping up with all of those blogs! I hope it is a lucrative "business" for you!
Now that your girls are a little older, you must feel very proud that you "made it!" Congrats, and keep at it!
Thank you for featuring me!
Sarah: It is more a labor of love, though I am working on a few things that will hopefully start generating some income with all of it.
Emily: I haven't made it yet! Young adults still need their moms so much. Though Skye lives a few hours away, we are in contact online almost every day. She is building her life, and handling her depression.
Zowie is a senior in high school, so we are getting her ready for college. She will be in college for 10 year.
I still have a lot of work to do!
Shannon--you're welcome! Happy to. "Free weekends" seem like such a dream...
I'm sure your girls are proud of you!
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