How being Raised by a Single Mom Impacted my Life

Becoming a mother has really made me so appreciative of my own mom. I was raised by a single mom and I am simply amazed at how she was able to raise two children by herself. All of the sacrifices she made over the years just blows me away. There truly is no love like that between a mother and her children.

I am proud to team up with Georgia-Pacific’s Angel Soft toilet paper brand and The Motherhood to help celebrate all of the single parents out there. They don’t get enough recognition for all of the hard work and the love that they give every single day.

My parents were divorced when I was 6 and my brother was 3. My mom had to quickly learn how to go from being a stay at home mom to the breadwinner of the family.

Looking back I am so proud of her and how she was able to handle the situation she was put in with class and strength. Seeing everything that she had to go through really had an impact on my life and made me the woman and mother that I am today.

Grateful for what I have

Being raised by a single mom really made me grateful for everything that I have. If it wasn’t for certain family members that stepped up and helped while my mom got on her feet, we could have easily been living in a shelter.

I know what it is like to not have the latest clothing styles or shoes. I was fine with that growing up and it’s still not an important priority in my life.

I was happy to be fed, have a roof over my head, and just having my own room was something I was thankful for. My mom made sure that we had the necessities and knowing how hard she worked to give that to us really made me grateful. Looking back, I just wish I had said “thank you” a lot more often.

Smart with Money

One of the big things I learned from my mom was how to be smart with my money. When you don’t have a lot of money, you learn how to really make it stretch and go farther.

It is so much easier to learn that now with the internet. There are so many websites that teach you how to be smart with your money, I hope my site is one of them, but my mom had to learn how to stretch every dollar before there were resources like this available.

We used coupons, shopped clearance, and only bought things when they were on sale. She made sure that we knew about finances and credit because these are topics that she had to learn about along the way. She made sure that we would have an advantage when we became adults.

Learning how to live within our means was a huge life lesson she made sure we understood. Because of that, the only debt that I have is my mortgage. My student loans, car, and credit cards are all payed off!

Work Hard for what you Have

Being a single parent is never easy, especially financially. There was one point that my mom was working three jobs. Three jobs!

She would work her full time job during the day from 8-5, bring us dinner, and then go to her part time job from 6-11. On the weekends she would clean out some office buildings. We would go with her and help or do homework.

Seeing her work so hard really instilled a strong work ethic in myself. When it was time for me to go to college, I didn’t have any help. I took out loans and worked a part time job to pay for rent and other bills.

Paying for college myself actually made me appreciate it more and made me really work to succeed. I still continue to work hard for everything that I have.

When I first started this blog, I had no idea about how to start a website or running a business but I knew that if I really wanted it to work and if I worked hard, I could make it happen.

Compassion for Others

Raising children is never easy but doing it alone is a struggle. My mom never wanted to be a single parent, life just happened that way.

Sometimes people are dealt hard blows and just need a little helping hand. I know what it’s like to be poor and I love when I am able to help others in need.

Even if it is just donating to the food bank or women’s shelter, I know that it will help family’s that are struggling and will help parents feed their children.

I try to never judge a person’s situation because you never know what they have been through and it very easily could have been you or someone you love in that very same circumstance if life had gone differently.

 

National Single Parent’s Day is March 21st and Angel Soft is helping to celebrate and give recognition to those who deserve it most.

There are over 12 million single parents raising children every single day so on March 20th, Angel Soft is debuting a video that shares the stories of three single parents and how they have overcome incredible odds through raw, personal interviews. It culminates with a granted wish that will help make their everyday lives a little easier.

To watch the video, you can head to The Angel Soft Facebook Page or Angelsoft.com.

The video is a part of Angel Soft’s “Be Soft. Be Strong” initiative which highlights the softness and strength of all types of families to handle life’s circumstances.

 

To help recognize the single parent’s in your life, watch the video and share it on social media.

I am so blessed to have such an amazing mom and I hope that I can be half the mom that she was. She was such a great mom and inspiration to me and I know that she is going to be an even greater Oma to my little girl.

She has shown me what it takes to be a good and loving mom that I hope I can take that and be an inspiration to my own daughter.