Maybe it's OK for married moms to feel like single parents

credit: PacificCoastNews.com

I used to cringe when I’d read a status update or hear a married friend exclaim that she’d be a single mom for the weekend while her husband was out of town.

I’d feel frustrated at the blanket statement when (the assumption is) that the husband-father will return home with hugs and kisses and five minutes to take out the garbage and help with homework, no matter how weary or tired-eyed or crabby or wishing he was still in an office conference room or with his guy friends or tending to business in another city. I’d feel defensive about dads I know who complained about handling all the details while their wives were working or traveling or whatever, even knowing all might not be fabulous or secure or peaceful in that family situation.

You don’t get to call yourself a single parent, I’d think, if the other parent comes back and participates. 

But this all changed when the first lady slipped and called herself a single mother during a recent television interview. Here's how my thinking changed and how I am learning it's about hearing each other compassionately, not competitively. Up now on Babble.