I'm a single mum – the bond I have with my children is stronger than when I was married |
Welcome to The i Paper’s opinion series, How I Parent, in which our writers open up about how they tackle challenges of raising their children in our complex modern age.
• Dr Punam Krishnan: One comment from my son and I knew I had a problem with my phone
• Will Gore: Parenting in the Home Counties has become a lesson in class warfare
What’s your idea of a “dream” Sunday afternoon when it’s cold and rainy? I just lived out mine: for on the dreariest of days, my 13-year-old daughter and I ordered a pizza and ate it in bed (scandalous) while binge-watching Married At First Sight Australia. My nine-year-old son – her little brother – was at a party, but when he got home he joined us beneath the electric blanket. We ransacked the “chocolate drawer” downstairs and consumed the contents while watching the new Netflix animated movie In Your Dreams. It was, with sincerity, a perfect day.
It was also the kind of day that – before I became a single parent – would not have even entered my mind as a possibility, yet has now become one of my most cherished routines. The chance to spend precious time in bed with my children at weekends while we block the rest of the world out: forgetting about work, homework, maths tests and school bullies; blocking out the mundane call of laundry and cooking and cleaning the kitchen in favour of cuddles and chatting about things big and small. And interestingly, it’s not something I would ever have done when I was married.
Before – and I see this still echoed with my........