8 Organization Tips for Single Parents
Organization tips for single parents are vitally important. Parenting demands a lot of time, and combining it with other occupations can be a real challenge.
In reality, there are many unique situations that can lead to single parenthood. Each one could involve different ways of parenting. Widowhood, divorce, or a simple separation from a partner (whether on good terms or not) creates complex scenarios.
In this article, we’ll offer some tips that could help single parents who want to improve their day-to-day organization. You may not be able to apply them all, but some of them will surely give you a hand!
1. Create routines and set limits
Routines are the best allies when it comes to organization. They don’t have to work like clockwork, but they do provide an adequate framework. For example, having one cooking day a week will allow you to plan for expenses.
The micro-plans as a whole give context to daily life. Cleaning days, shopping, and outings shouldn’t be missing from your agenda. Making the list visible and following what is written down is part of creating this healthy routine.
Organization for single parents requires the establishment of limits so that the routine is fulfilled. Boundaries and knowing what needs to get done are key when it comes to deciding how to structure your routine.
We think you may also enjoy reading this article: What Are Parenting Classes and What Do You Learn There?
2. Maintain order in the home
It sounds easy, but single parents know how complicated it can be to juggle work and parenting. This is even more so if they find themselves working more than one job.
That’s why bonds with family and friends are decisive. But if these conditions are not met, the services of a professional are recommended to replace the presence of the parents at home. This is not only when it comes to the care of the small children, but also to be able to keep up with the cleaning of the home.
3. Get some help
Raising children is not something you can do alone. If you don’t have a partner, family and friends are indispensable.
Allowing collaboration gives parents time to organize and prepare. Financial difficulties may force you to consider extra work hours. Daycare, school, or relatives (such as grandparents) should be on the list of options.
In addition, single parents may need support with simple, everyday activities. For example, shopping for groceries or picking up the child from school if the child’s dismissal time coincides with work.
4. Strengthen your relationships
Organizing for single parents requires building relationships with relatives and friends to support parenting. Children need healthy references. After all, the bonds that favor emotional maturity and healthy growth cannot be underestimated.
Spaces are also needed for children to spend time with other children and enjoy a socialization and education plan based on their differences and unique needs. In this sense, it’s essential to widen your circle to include other parents or other single parents, in particular.
Children who grow up spending too much alone tend to be overprotected. If your relationships are widened, their horizons also become broader and more open.
5. Create healthy communication channels
Singleness caused by a divorce can be due to severe communication issues and understanding problems. However, the children are there and, somehow, it is necessary to assume the situation with responsibility and maturity.
The sensible thing to do is to reach healthy agreements that put your children first. It’s clear that children need it, but so do parents as part of the structuring of family relationships. These channels and flows of communication will make the organization for single parents bearable.
6. Trust in the process
There is something inevitable about the things that happen in life. You can’t know exactly what would have happened if circumstances had been different. So, maturity comes from taking what comes your way with encouragement and good energy.
Building a healthy future is a process that requires daily effort. As a single parent, your efforts must be redoubled so that the future together with the children is closer to what was dreamed of. Meanwhile, along the way, there’s nothing like setting concrete objectives and plausible, achievable goals.
Like this article? You may also like to read: Attachment Parenting: What Is It and What Are The Benefits?
7. Contemplate emergency plans
Experience offers answers in urgent situations. Some are foreseeable, but others are not. To be prepared, it’s a good idea to look for plans and coverage to deal with emergencies.
Establishing clear mechanisms and protocols that can be shared with family or friends – such as addresses, phone numbers, and insurance numbers – is a very good idea. After all, much of the stress during an emergency comes from not having the information at hand and not knowing what to do.
Knowing the neighborhood well, the proximity of and the ways to get to health centers, stores, and neighborhood or community help centers, is keyc.
8. Always set some time aside for yourself
To truly be able to take care of children, parents need to take care of themselves first. Only by keeping calm and trying to control the situation will it be possible to transmit and take control to others.
Practicing some sport, fulfilling certain routines of personal attention, to making outings alone or with friends or a new partner, are essential parts of life. Your emotional stability as a single parent depends on this.
We think you may be interested in reading this, too: Authoritarian Parenting Style: Characteristics and Possible Effects on Children
Tidying up saves time and energy
Organization for single parents is a fundamental ally when it comes to organizing and arranging things, such as keys, documents, auxiliary lamps, thermometers, umbrellas, and bags. In short, it’s all about staying organized when it comes to a series of routine objects that facilitate or make your daily routine possible and allow you to have what you need on hand in case of an emergency.
When these things are at hand or in predictable places, it saves time and increases the feeling of serenity and security. Finally, before going to bed, it never hurts to go through your house and put everything back in its place. This helps ensure that you have an easy, stress-free morning the next day.
All cited sources were thoroughly reviewed by our team to ensure their quality, reliability, currency, and validity. The bibliography of this article was considered reliable and of academic or scientific accuracy.
- Avilés Hernández, M. (2013). Origen del concepto de «monoparentalidad». Un ejercicio de contextualización sociohistórica. Papers: revista de sociología, 98(2), 0263-285. Disponible en: https://ddd.uab.cat/pub/papers/papers_a2013m4-6v98n2/papers_a2013m4-6v98n2p263.pdf
- Avilés Hernández, M. (2015). La monoparentalidad masculina en España (Vol. 287). CIS-Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas.
- Coles, R. L. (2015). Single‐father families: A review of the literature. Journal of Family Theory & Review, 7(2), 144-166. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jftr.12069
- Kim, G. E., & Kim, E. J. (2020). Factors affecting the quality of life of single mothers compared to married mothers. BMC psychiatry, 20, 1-10. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12888-020-02586-0
- Tobio Soler, M. C., & Fernández Cordón, J. A. (1999). Monoparentalidad, trabajo y familia. Disponible en: https://e-archivo.uc3m.es/handle/10016/20244#preview
- Vásquez Fajardo, V. T. (2015). Estilos de crianza en familias monoparentales con hijos únicos. https://www.lareferencia.info/vufind/Record/EC_a794e9a34719cef71e100dbb9d409bba
