Drawing from the invaluable insights and advice from our SPW members, we wanted to give some hope and insight for those at the beginning of their journey. We delve into the emotional nuances of the early days of single parenthood versus the wisdom gained over time.

Over and over again we hear our SPW members discuss how difficult they find managing conflict and in particular how they respond not react when one parent bad mouths the other parent to their children. We have put together practical and useful ways to approach this and react in a positive way whilst also supporting your child.

Mary Atkinson is an ward-winning author and complementary therapist, is co-founder of the Story Massage Programme, a fun and inclusive way of combining the benefits of positive nurturing touch with the creativity of stories, poems, and songs. She talks about how this simple concept can help you connect and interact with your child.

The concept of love languages was created by couples counsellor Dr. Gary Chapman. He had noticed that people differ in what sort of interactions make them feel connected to their partner. In 1997, Dr. Chapman wrote a book with Dr. Ross Campbell about how the five love languages can apply to children as well.

Rom coms and other media would have us believe that when a relationship breaks down or we part ways with someone we’ve had a child with that you meet for coffee, are best mates or generally run through meadows together.

I’m sure a small percentage of the single parent population do have that, but the vast majority will have been on a rollercoaster to get to the coparenting relationship they have today. Or they manage to parallel parent or even counter parent.

Pleasure is a positive and inherent part of who we are as humans. We are biologically designed to experience pleasure in a multitude of ways, via our five senses. Furthermore, our eros can be viewed as not just our libido, but our life force, creativity and the very essence of who we are. However, people’s upbringings or distressing or traumatic life events can take their toll on their relationship to pleasure.

There will be a lot of situations in a single parents life that they will have to be in the same room as their ex partner, and one of those reasons may be your child’s birthday party. This can stir up so many emotions and be a highly stressful situation. So we have round up some top tips to consider.

I have been at my beautiful friend’s home on so many occasions and felt so much admiration and awe at the amazing relationship she has with her ex. He returns with kids, comes in for a cuppa, they ask each other how their weekends have been and chat through what the boys have been doing.

As a single parent you may wonder when you are ready to start dating again, and even where do I start? You may have been through a traumatic break up, been on your own for a while or even gone through a bereavement.

An inevitable part of life for most single parents, is dealing with heartbreak. The process is hard when a relationship ends and you have to rebuild your life.

We asked SPW members for there top tips to get through heartbreak.

This grey rock method has been tried and tested by one of our single parent members, who has summarised all the best bits from everything that she has read and put into practice. This amazingly powerful resource is for people dealing with difficult and toxic people and the writer found it invaluable along with the services of Atal y Fro.

Knowing how we can easily decide any need our child has as being directly linked to our relationship status, I shared some ideas and information about the outcomes of children from separated households and took questions from the group. Thank you all for being so open and bringing so much experience! What follows is a summary for anyone who might not have been able to come along.

I posted on our Single Parents FB closed group asking for single parents experiences around online dating, and oh my god, the responses were both funny and concerning. I myself haven’t had any bad experiences with online dating, but I have only been on 3 dates in 5 years, so maybe I’m not the best person to ask. Which is why I reached out to gain some more understanding of this online dating world.

The thought of another woman ‘mothering’ my little boy has always filled me with dread and fear. A woman I know absolutely nothing about, a woman playing ‘happy families’ with my son and his father, taking over from me.