Solo Parenting

2025-11-15

Right now I am solo parenting and it makes me realize how hard it is. Being able to hand you kids off to your partner for an hour, 10 minutes, or even 1 minute is really nice and something I took for granted. Last night was bath time for both of the boys, we try to give a bath every other day unless they get really messy. I even had help from Sneha’s parents which is more help than what some others have.

It is nice because this solo parenting is temporary, also our youngest was home for the week last week which was an extra layer of hard. It is nice because Sneha is back and will only have one more work trip this year. I think if this were permanent it would be a challenge and really detrimental to my quality of life. Being able to take a break and clean, watch tv, or listen to a podcast is great. Losing all of those break feels soul crushing.

I think that solo or divorced parents would be tough. Both my Mom and Dad helped out with my brother and I but I bet there were a few times for each of them when they had both of us and felt overwhelmed. I think relying on parents or brothers and sisters was what they did. Or friends. Or even classes. Just a buffer of other people to help entertain your kids so you only have to take care of one kid at a time.

I also think, or hope, that this will change as my kids get older. They will have longer attention spans and slowly become more independent.

-Gary