Search Results for: blog marriage and your single friends

You are in Charge of YOUR Feelings

Kids are a handful. If you’re a single mom, you know that all too well. While my son and I have a very close relationship, there are times when he makes me want to rip my hair out. He’s four, that happens sometimes, it’s in their nature to misbehave and test their boundaries here and there. I have found myself saying, “Logan you are making Mommy really frustrated right now!” However, I realized just how wrong I really was. Yes, I am extremely frustrated with his behavior, but ultimately I am the one choosing to feel frustrated. He can’t “make” … Continue reading →

Finding Support from Your Friends

We’ve talked extensively about how important it is that we keep friends outside of our marriage.  And that doesn’t mean that we have friends who can’t also be friends with our spouses.  It just means that we look for emotional connections with more people than just our spouses.  I know it’s very true for me; my two best friends give me things my husband never could, and not just things like watching the six-hour BBC “Pride and Prejudice.” It’s a real romantic notion – both in the love and in the story sense of the word – that our spouses … Continue reading →

The Difference Between Friendship and Marriage

Sometimes I wonder what the difference is between friendship and marriage.  Not casual friendship, or even good friendship, but really-close, best-friends, rely-on-each-other-for-everything friendship.  If we look to the media for answers, it seems to imply that the only difference is physical desire.  In movies and television, the only or at least primary distinguishable change in the relationship between two characters that are best friends, and then become something more, is that their relationship adds a sexual element. Those are usually my favorite types of stories (as opposed to ones where the characters aren’t friends but jump right to dating), only … Continue reading →

Why Marriage Keeps Your Brain Healthy

The next time your spouse drives you absolutely crazy, keep in mind that he, or she, is probably helping to keep your brain healthy. That is because the challenges that our spouses give us, along with the love and support, may actually be protecting our brains. In fact, according to a recent study, sharing a life with another person means that we are less likely to develop cognitive impairment than single people who are not married. The study took place in Scandinavia and included 1,400 men and women. Married people are simply less likely to develop dementia than single people. … Continue reading →

Giving Up Your Dreams

There are so many challenges to being a single parent. One of the biggest is the loss of your dreams. When we get married we all think that this is the person we will grow old with, the person who will share all of life’s ups and downs. The person who will support us when it comes to fulfilling out dreams. It’s hard to let go of that. The thing that still makes me the saddest is knowing that I no one else feels like I do about my daughter. There is no one to share the joys of her … Continue reading →

Supporting Your Spouse

Long before I met my husband, I was a huge baseball fan…of the Milwaukee Brewers that is. I knew all the players and the positions they played. When I eventually met and married my husband, something changed. I suddenly lost interest in baseball and would sometimes find myself complaining about the fact that all he did was watch sports. Then a few years ago he decided to coach one of our church’s softball teams. That first season I was one of the fans but the following season I became the “stat girl.” When my husband first asked me to do … Continue reading →

Happy Helping Husbands

Today I took my kids, including my newest addition, to story time at the public library. My oldest son loves it. I frequently meet other moms there and get a chance to get out of the house and feel a little “normal”. Or at least, as normal as I can with a new baby around. Today I sat next to a Mom and we started chatting. She had 4 kids (twins in the middle) and her youngest was still a baby, although starting to toddle around. During the conversation, she said that she and her husband were going through a … Continue reading →

Don’t Let The Media Parent Your Children

Sometimes I let Hailey watch too much TV. It’s an easy habit to fall into, especially when you are a single parent and there are so many things to do. You plop your child in front of the television, just for a few minutes so you can get something done and a habit is started. All the media in our children s lives is like another influence in the house. Our children are bombarded with messages and even if we are diligent about what they watch they may still see things that go against our values. Many shows that you … Continue reading →

Between You and Me

Going through a divorce is an emotional time for everyone involved. When my ex husband and I split not even six months ago I was devastated and hurt by the things that he had said and done throughout our marriage. I was angry at the position he had put me and our son in. It was far from fair and there were times when I honestly hated him for it. Our son was 2 ½ at the time and while he didn’t understand the logistics of everything that was going on he did know that something was wrong. Dad was … Continue reading →

Link Between Family’s Wealth and Teen Drinking

A recent study came out that discussed how teens from wealthier families had a higher tendency to drink alcohol than their peers who come from low income families. Although many like to think that having money would make you and your children healthier, this may not always be the case. At first, I found this study surprising, but upon reflection, I’m guessing it was the same way during my high school days. The big drinkers in my school were defiantly the “popular” kids, most of which were from the wealthier families in my hometown. They were the binge drinkers, getting … Continue reading →