What makes my family different

I have wondered about this many times. Exactly how different are single parents and their families? People - usually married people - are very fond of telling me that single parents are not appreciably different than parents with partners. How many time have I heard "I'm married, but I may as well be a single parent. He doesn't do anything with the kids." Believe me when I say I have heard this a lot.

Well, guess what, my mis-guided friends, we are different. And there is a special group among single parents that are even more unique. By that I mean that our children literally and legally do not have a father. That's right, my children, because I adopted them as a single mother, do not have a father on their birth certificate. And this fact makes me and my family different.

Now, I am not saying that different is a bad thing. It's just.... different. I am very open with my children and we discuss a lot of things (at an age-appropriate level, of course). I read a lot of books to give me insight and ideas, some of which you can see here on the blog. I am building their self-esteem in a variety of ways that emphasizes their own uniqueness in the world and that they are special and valued and incredible, whether they have a "father" or not. Our faith in the Father-Mother-God and in Jesus the Christ as the Way-Shower steadies us in difficult times, but your family may have other beliefs that do the same thing.

My point and what I try to emphasis with my girls, is that we are all different. Everyone has their own unique situation and experiences. Our uniqueness just happens to result from being an all-girl family and that's cool with us..... because, in the immortal words of my 1st grader, "Girls Rule and Boys Drool, Forever!".

Forever for a 1st grader is different that my concept of forever but the "boys drool" concept doesn't sound too far off. There have been times ... but that, I suppose, is another topic for another post...

Meanwhile, celebrate and embrace the uniqueness of whatever your situation is and make it work FOR YOU!