by Lisa Shaver

Created on: July 31, 2009

Stress stands in a league of its own. Its one of the main causes of depression. We have all been there at one time or another. The feeling of drowning under a mountain of bills you just can not pay, or the many lay offs happening around you at work making you realize its just a matter of time before its you. Stress leaves you feeling helpless, depressed and ultimately afraid of what is next. All of that piled on top of the fear of failure. Your marriage ends...failure. You loose your job...failure. Your child goes to jail...failure. All of these are scenarios that you did not do alone, but started with the fear of failing and ultimately led to failure. However, it all started with stresses that are listed above.

Parental stress may be one of the hardest to deal with and probably more so in a one parent family. In a family where both parents are present, they have one another to vent to. To talk to about the children, or the everyday stresses on may incur. However, when it is just you alone, then you have all the burden on your shoulders alone and there is no other person to rely on. No one there that you can vent your stresses to when it comes down to feeling burdened and stressed out. Its all you. You, who has to pay all the bills. You, who has to make all the money to pay all the bills. You, who is the sole punisher and disciplinary. How does one deal with all of this alone?

Eventually there is a breaking point for everyone. Some people can last longer than others before they break. Some just can not handle the stress at all. Not on any level. No one wakes up one day thinking, Hey today I am going to hurt my child. Today I am going to beat them so severely that they die. It builds. Starts with the everyday burdens of parenting. Lets take a look at the life a single parent.

6 am - Get up, and grab a cup of coffee. Toddler wakes up at the same time...no peace for even a few minutes in the morning.

6:30 am - Wake the older children up to get them breakfast and have them start getting themselves ready for school. (Hopefully if we have thought about it, we got the clothes out for the younger ones the night before.) Also start getting ourselves and the toddler ready for work and daycare.

7 am - head out the door to take the baby to daycare and go to work. Praying all the while, that the older ones actually make it to the bus one time.

4 pm - two hours to go till you can go home. Praying again that the children are not at the house making huge messes for you

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>