Product Description
Being a single mother is difficult?especially in the cash-strapped financial environment that we live in today. With the cost of gas, food, and college all going up, how can one woman do it all? Single mothers need a practical, issue-specific, easy-to-read guide to personal finance issues. Answering questions about the costs of rent, day care, health care, college, and more, this book will serve as a valuable tool for struggling single mothers everywhere. Whether they receive child support or not, most single mothers live on tighter-than-tight budgets?and they need a go-to guide to get them through tough times and plan for the future. Offering the advice single moms need to find a sense of security, this book is an affordable alternative to a financial advisor. ... Read more

Product Description
A remarkable number of women today are taking the daunting step of having children outside of marriage. In Single By Chance, Mothers By Choice, Rosanna Hertz offers the first full-scale account of this fast-growing phenomenon, revealing why these middle class women took this unorthodox path and how they have managed to make single parenthood work for them.
Hertz interviewed 65 women--ranging from physicians and financial analysts to social workers, teachers, and secretaries--women who speak candidly about how they manage their lives and families as single mothers. What Hertz discovers are not ideologues but reluctant revolutionaries, women who--whether straight or gay--struggle to conform to the conventional definitions of mother, child, and family. Having tossed out the rulebook in order to become mothers, they nonetheless adhere to time-honored rules about child-rearing. As they tell their stories, they shed light on their paths to motherhood, describing how they summoned up the courage to pursue their dream, how they broke the news to parents, siblings, friends, and co-workers, how they went about buying sperm from fertility banks or adopting children of different races. They recount how their personal and social histories intersected to enable them to pursue their dream of motherhood, and how they navigate daily life. What does it mean to be 'single' in terms of romance and parenting? How do women juggle earning a paycheck with parenting? What creative ways have women devised to shore up these families? How do they incorporate men into their child-centered families? This book provides concrete, informative answers to all these questions.
A unique window on the future of the family, this book offers a gold mine of insight and reassurance for any woman contemplating this rewarding if unconventional step. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Not what I was hoping for
There are many books on this subject I wanted to read, and I chose this one first because it seemed to be an objective, analytical sketch of a relatively new sociological phenomenon. But it turns out not to be the academic examination it purports to be. Hertz's "discoveries" are broad and simplistic; moreover, most of the dilemmas she reveals are the struggles not merely of single mothers by choice, but of all women who have to work to support their families, even 2-parent families. She does make a few insightful claims about these women and their choices, but then she repeats those claims over and over. The book should be half as long as it is.

But perhaps the most unsettling thing about this read is that I was not expecting such subjectivity. Hertz makes assertions about the motives and ultimate effects of the choices these single women make, and her assertions clearly mark her moral and ethical stance, however much she tries to hide it. If you are expecting detached, academic insight, look elsewhere.

The one very good thing the book does offer, though, is the vignettes themselves. The individual profiles from this diverse group of women are interesting.

Um, yeah...not one of the top books on the issue...
This book is written in two seperate parts.I did not read the part for "single by chance" as I am going the choice route.This book was lame.REALLY lame!Not up to date on the subject.Also clearly written for a certain group (caucasian) of women. Does not speak to everyone--didn't speak to me at all.Would not recommend this book.There are SEVERAL better options out there!!

Dan Quayle got it wrong!
...and so much for "Leave it to Beaver".The traditional family structure of the days of Eisenhower are officially over.Hertz makes it very clear that Mothers bychoice who are single can do a fine job of child rearing.That furthermore, not only are these Mothersnot anti male, they often go to extraordinary lengths to make sure that there are male figures in the lives of their children.

For anyone who wants to understand this phenomenon in further detail, this is a fascinating book. I would recommend it to James Dobson, but I don't think he would be open to its thesis.

It is not a "How to Do it Book," it is a quality sociological analysis using extended interviews to tease out many stories that outline the diverse patterns of single Motherhood that can produce a happy familyand well adjusted child.

One caveat that Hertz makes clear from the beginning.This is an analysis of women who fall in the broadly defined middle class.The story of young urban teenagers, often minorities whobecome single Mothers by some mixture of choice and neglect would almost surelyproduce a very different set of stories.It would be interesting if Hertz might do a study in the future that compares social class as it intersects with "Single by Chance, Mothers by Choice."

More of a research paper
As someone who is currently single and trying to become a mother, this is not a book I would recommend.I was looking for something a bit more practical and this read more like someone's thesis.Also, I didn't identify with many of the women profiled.Their reasons or the reasons given for choosing this path just didn't ring true for me.

The one part of the book I enjoyed was hearing the different stories about how the women explained the "fathers" to the children.That was very helpful since I've been struggling with the story that I will tell.

Single Motherhood
Add another one to Hertz's Fan club!Her writing style and explanations of real life America have assisted us in understanding the thinking of today's women ...Her research shows that the family unit and the tradition of motherhood may be changing with the times but will continue to be maintained.
These women contribute greatly to American society today and so does Rosanna Hertz. A book that must be read! ... Read more

Product Description
What kind of help do single parents need most in their day-to-day lives? The Authors asked that very question of over 500 single parents in an in-depth survey.Now, Noel and Klein provide the answers to the top concerns, problems and challenges of single-parenting life--answers that are practical and real-life solutions, readers will find hundreds of resources to help take control of their lives.This new revised edition features all new resources-over 200 resources in all.Amazon.com Review
It's no news that being a single parent is not an easy row tohoe, especially not to the 13 million individuals in the United Stateswho currently find themselves in that role. What is news is that thereis now a book that offers real assistance on a variety of pertinentissues. There are chapters on communication and house rules, familydinners and quality time, job burnout and business trips, realisticbudgets and how to have a social life while still providingresponsible, loving parenting. With scads of quotes from singleparents on their frustrations, solutions, and general experiences,it's a support group in text form. It's full of advice, which meansthere's lots that will be helpful and pertain to your specificpredicaments, and plenty you'll pass right over as not applicable toyou. And it's a resource book, addressing the concerns expressed bythe over 500 single parents Noel surveyed, with hundreds of topics andtips, as well as references for further support. --StephanieGold ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

so, so
not as good as I expected. Your life will go on if you dont buy it. its ok and esy to read but not an asset to any single parent.

Brook Noel has helped me !
This book has helped me with so many good resources to use. Brook knowing first hand how hard it is to live in a single parent home has given us help to make it with what we have. Thanks Brook, you will never know how much my life has been changed thru reading your book.

The Single Parent Resource
The Single Parent Resource is one of the most practical and comprehensive guides available today.With an easy to navigate table of contents, the book lends itself as a ready reference guide.As a single parent, I wasimpressed with the amount of information packed into it.It covers many ofthe issues that I have encountered and provides solutions that work. Single parenting is not easy but Brook Noel's book gives me more tools todeal with real life, day to day challenges.Thank you for giving me thishelp.

Helpful, supportive and practical resource guide
The author, Brooke Noel, was raised in a single parent home so she understands from firsthand experience the type of trials and support needed by single parents.

The book covers the top concerns problems and challenges facing the single parent based upon a survey of 500 single parents:

Household management (cooking, cleaning, chores, etc.), balancing work and family, finances, childcare, emotional health for children and parents, and much more.

Although I'm not personally a single parent, I found the guide helpful for any busy parent.Many of the categories and tips are applicable to anyone.

I just wish Amazon.com didn't offer this book by special order only---it's definitely the type of resource single parents need to get into their hands right away. ... Read more

Product Description
Raising preschoolers can be exasperating, not to mention exhausting. And single parents have it tougher still. Elsa Kok Colopy has been there. She knows the struggle well.In A Single Mom's Guide to Finding Joy in the Chaos, Elsa comes alongside readers as a trusted friend to help them handle twenty crucial parenting issues. Writing with warmth and vulnerability, Elsa addresses everything from nutrition to discipline, including how readers can- build their child's self-esteem and sense of belonging - get creative about budgeting and paying off debt - use sibling rivalry to teach problem-solving skillsWith short, easy-to-read chapters, this book makes it easy for moms to find the encouragement they need, the moment they need it. A Single Mom's Guide to Finding Joy in the Chaos is full of powerful inspiration and hope for moms raising kids on their own. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

The Sinlge Mom's Friend
This book is a unique combination of wit, wisdom and encouragement to all single parents out there.Gives concrete ideas of ways to make life better as you do a job that sometimes feels very lonely, with a few laughs along the way.

Single Mom Relating
Elsa was a single mom for quite awhile raising her daughter. She is also part of the Divorce Care videos that I just finished, which is a 13-week divorce healing and recovery course. I just love how she speaks, with such compassion, softness, and care. Her book is no exception. Right off the bat, I felt connected to her.

One of the things she talked about was her friendships with women. There was a point in her life she did not feel that she needed female friends, as most her friends were men. Starting in 2005, when I went to my first Women's Retreat, I had felt that way. Most of the time, I did not connect with other women unless they were engineers, technical, or business people. Forget it if you were the stay at home mom, liked all this girlie stuff, you were all a mystery to me.

Yet, I found as I became a mother in 2000, and as I allowed God to change me starting 2005, that I found good friendships with women who were very different than me. But, it wasn't until recently as I identified (with a lot of help from the Holy Spirit, counseling, etc) the root cause of my rebellion, and really took a friend's suggestion to deepen my friendships with women, that I began to find power and joy in this.

I'm truly beginning to really enjoy turning to my women friends for support rather than my male friends, as there is a bonding with another woman friend that I cannot get with a man. How I've listened to the lies of Satan over the years and lost out on so much. I'm finding that some of the women I'm connecting with are super girlie, but in the end, we all want to be loved, to be accepted, to be protected, to be cherished.

Not totally there yet, but I've found that I've not really had the chance to really be all the woman God created me to be. I actually do love feeling pretty and to be found attractive. I hope that I can help Hannalee be her very best, which is both feminine, strong, capable, intelligent, industrious. There's more.

I don't think this was a book on how to be a woman and to connect to other women, but that's where I am so far, also not very far into the book. I'm looking forward to the rest of the book and will continue this review as I read.

Singlemotherhood is Joyful!
Single moms of preschoolers will find handy hints for managing the every day challenges of raising a toddler.Budget help and ways to make a dollar stretch are always welcome.And, of course, former partners can often be less helpful and far more aggravating than a slightly frazzled single mom imagined.To cope with all the challenges of single motherhood, no matter what the age of your child, check out The Complete Single Mother, recently published in a completely revised third edition. ... Read more

Product Description
Kickin' Butt As a Single Parent: 99 Tips That Every Single Parent Must Have is guaranteed to empower the reader to better communicate with their children, their ex spouse, find peace, balance and organization in their lives. It will also guide the reader to time proven tips that will help deal with anger and depression and eventually the tips on how to find love again as a single parent. ... Read more

Product Description
You're going to discover so many things on how to become a better single parent with little effort!Not only will you learn how to settle in as individuals and a new family, but you'll also learn extra bonus tips to actually teach people.


Here's Just "Sneak-Peak" At What You'll Uncover
With Single Parenting 101

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Discover what and whom single parents are as individuals and as a group.

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Learn how to nurture close connections and bonds and the roles and responsibility that come along with single parenting.

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How to solve behavioral problems and encourage confidence.

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Discover all the different strategies for dealing with parenting difficulties and facing new situations and a unique set of 'operating' principles.

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Learn how to make everyday count and make a difference.

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Dicover the transitions of new circumstances and the journey down the path of single parenting.

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Learn how to see things from the child's point of view.

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Discover a new path and survival plan for single parents.

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Discover the major challenges you need to overcome when you are a single parent.

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Learn how to help children cope with the situation of your new role.

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Discover how to battle the societal prejudice and stigma of single-parent homes and care giving.

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Learn how to balance your new role of a single parent and your career.

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Disocover how to break the old habits and get on with the new.

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Plus much MUCH More! ... Read more

Product Description
An eye-opening--and heart-rending--account from the front lines of poverty, Through My Own Eyes offers a firsthand look at how single mothers with the slimmest of resources manage from day to day. For three years the authors followed the lives of fourteen women from poor Boston neighborhoods, all of whom had young children and had been receiving welfare intermittently. We learn how these women negotiated a bewildering maze of child-care and social agencies, struggled to balance work and motherhood, and tried--frequently in vain--to gain ground. "Revealing, penetrating and sobering, Through My Own Eyes paints a poignant portrait of real women's real lives. At one level, this sensitively written book packs lessons about struggle and survival. At another level, it is a profound treatise about culture, class, misdirected practice, and misconstrued policy. All who read it will face themselves and their attitudes about poverty with new understanding. A triumph!" --Sharon L. Kagan, Senior Research Scientist, Yale UniversitySusan Holloway is Adjunct Professor of Education at the University of California, Berkeley. Bruce Fuller is Professor of Education and Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley. Marylee Rambaud is a Senior Associate at Creative Associates International, Inc., and teaches graduate seminars in international development and community education at Boston University. Costanza Eggers-Piérola is a researcher and consultant who focuses on educational issues that impact bilingual and minority children. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Great Book!
Explain the how a group of low-income woman perceive what makes a good school and a good education. You learn that middle-class and low-income families have different ideas of what a good education should be. This helped me change the way I think about education policy.

Great book!
The goal of Through My Own Eyes was to make mothers and their young children who live at the edge of poverty no longer faceless strangers. This was done by telling their story of living in poverty. This book argued that there is not one single culture of poverty, that there are many cultures of poverty. This study focused on fourteen "working poor" mothers in the Boston area who had at least one child below the age of five.
This book discussed the push and pull factors of being a mother and needing to provide for their family. This book worked to dispel the myth that women prefer to be on welfare over working. This was done by looking at the ways and context within which these women pieced together income, from low paying jobs, welfare, and kin and childcare. This was also done by looking at the pressure that welfare agencies and public policy has put on mothers.
Another myth that was dispelled was that families in poverty have low expectations for their children in school and do not care about their child's education. These women's stories illustrated a concern for their child's success and many of them saw education as a tool for success and social mobility.
The last chapter of the book discussed the lessons learned through this study, which included the difference of economic and social context each woman came from and the resources available within those contexts. The authors also outlined the implications and suggestionsfor policy makers, community practitioners, and scholars and analysts.
The theoretical framework was a cultural model, specifically cultural difference. I also think that there was a lot of sociological influence.
The most interesting aspect of this book was how easy to read it was. I thought that the book was written in an accessible manner. Though it was obviously academic, I thought that it would be easy for the people who this book was written about to read. I thought that that was important because many books and articles that I have read that have used interviews or ethnography have used so much theory that is inaccessible to the people that it is written about.
The evidence of this book was interviews with women who were working mother's in poverty. Additional research and studies that supported the authors' arguments were also cited and used as examples.
The point from the book that I am going to connect to my broader scope of knowledge is from chapter seven. The title of chapter seven was Cultural Models of Education. This chapter included a discussion about each mother's conception of the purposes of schooling and the type of schooling they saw best fit for their child. The authors of this book found that these parents emphasized teacher-structured learning. They also emphasized literacy and numeracy skills. I thought this was interesting because it connected to recent reading I have done, Lisa Delpit's Other Peoples Children Ellen,Brantlinger's Dividing Classes, and Jacqueline Goodnow's Parents' Knowledge and Expectations.
I thought that the perspective of the parents in Through My Own Eyes connected to Lisa Delpit's argument that the constructivist approach is not working for African American students and that these students need a more behaviorist approach that emphasizes skills. Her argument is that low-income parents prefer conservative forms of schooling because they believe it provides more access to power than progressive approaches. This argument connected to the preferences exhibited by the mothers in Through My Own Eyes who did not like preschools that did not have a behaviorist, teacher-centered approach. Many of the mother's believed that education was their child's chance at social mobility and they did not want to waste their child's time in an atmosphere that was not training them to be successful in school. This perspective was similar to Delpit's because both believe that conservative curriculum enhances poor children's chances for social mobility.
The mother's perspective also connected to Ellen Brantlinger's Dividing Classes. Brantlinger argued that, similar to working class and poor parents, the middle class prefers aspects of conservative pedagogy including an emphasis on skills, facts, and standardized knowledge. I think it is interesting that both of these books use interview strategies with their respective group and both showed parents who believe that behaviorist teaching will enable their children to be successful.
In this chapter I also saw connections to Goodnow's Parents' Knowledge and Expectations. Goodnow discussed the circumstances that parents seek out information about their parenting. She argued that parents seek out information when they need it. Questions on page 147 of Through My Own Eyes connect to questions addressed by Goodnow, "If a mother is not confident about her role in preparing her child for school, what does she do? Under what conditions do mothers accept "expert opinion" and when do they reject it?...When expert knowledge is perceived as legitimate, cultural models evolve in response to it; this is the active process of producing culture". The mother's in the study responded to "expert" knowledge on child rearing, though some were more responsive tan others. Though this was not overtly stated I wonder if what the authors were saying was that the level of new information a mother sought out was dependent on her cultural model?
I am curious about how the author's felt that their own class position may have affected their analysis of the experiences of the women in the book. ... Read more

Product Description
The first guide of its kind, covering all stages of the adoption process

Adopting on Your Own addresses the questions and concerns of prospective single parents. Lee Varon, a practicing therapist specializing in adoption counseling and the single mother of two adopted children, helps readers make an evenhanded assessment of whether adoption is right for them, then leads them through the different stages of arranging and financing the adoption. She weighs the advantages of open versus closed and international versus domestic adoption for the single parent, and demystifies potentially daunting steps such as choosing an agency and preparing for the home study.

Adopting on Your Own also offers up-to-date information on the latest developments in interracial adoption policy, the legal rights of gays and lesbians to adopt, and the evolving attitudes of agencies and social workers toward single-parent adoptions. Throughout the book, Varon draws on personal anecdotes and the experiences of her clients to offer honest, insightful advice on every step of the adoption process.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (16)

Fantastic!!
This book is wonderfully written and full of extremely valuable information. I loved reading it and will keep it for detailed reference as I go through the adoption process.

I love my this book.
It help me alot a about the adoption fora single wonwan and I hope this will help a single parents.

Good exercises, dated information, perhaps too optimistic
I'm only partially through the book...not sure I'll finish.The exercises are helpful, and the general information is quite good. That said, much of the information is too dated and perhaps a bit too "PollyAnna". The copyright is 2000, and international adoption processes change too rapidly for this book to be entirely accurate/relevent today.

The book is quite optimistic about everyone being able to adopt -- people 50+ yrs old, single males, homosexuals, people on public assistence, etc.In everything else I've read, each of those groups seem to face significant biases and challenges from U.S. adoption agencies as well as foreign agencies/orphanages/governments.I'm not sure the book adequately portrays the challenges each demographic group may face.

Very informative, well written book
I walked away from reading this feeling fully empowered to move forward with an adoption as a single; it also opened my eyes to many aspects of single parenting (especially an adopted child) that I had never considered. I have passed this book on to friends who are also in the process or thinking about it. Highly recommend reading this even if you are already adopting-

There are also exercises at the end of each section/chapter that force you to think about what you are doing by journaling, very effective.

Thinking About Adoption
I have not read the entire book, but it is a book that has made me think at most is adoption really for me and at least I would have to really think about things. ... Read more

Product Description
From the author of The Prisoner's Wife, a poetic, passionate, and powerful memoir about the hard realities of single motherhood

When Asha Bandele, a young poet, fell in love with a prisoner serving a twenty-to-life sentence and became pregnant with his daughter, she had reason to hope they would live together as a family. Rashid was a model prisoner, and expected to be paroled soon. But soon after Nisa was born, Asha's dreams were shattered. Rashid was denied parole, and told he'd be deported to his native Guyana once released. Asha became a statistic: a single, black mother in New York City.

On the outside, Asha kept it together. She had a great job at a high-profile magazine and a beautiful daughter whom she adored. But inside, she was falling apart. She began drinking and smoking and eventually stumbled into another relationship, one that opened new wounds. This lyrical, astonishingly honest memoir tells of her descent into depression when her life should have been filled with love and joy. Something Like Beautiful is not only Asha's story, but the story of thousands of women who struggle daily with little help and much against them, and who believe they have no right to acknowledge their pain. Ultimately, drawing inspiration from her daughter, Asha takes account of her life and envisions for herself what she believes is possible for all mothers who thought there was no way out--and then discovered there was. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (39)

Something like sophmoric
Grossly overwritten in vast, unedited swaths of purple prose, this book's one pretension is its greedy grasping for a lack of pretension.Failing to capitalize your name does not make you bell hooks.

Likewise, impenetrable run-on sentences are not artistic; they're just badly-written.Consider this emblematic passage: "I am also writing to say that this is no simple passage, not in the slightest, and so this is how it was at times and this is why it was at times, but finally this was the way out.There was a way out."

Um...talk down to me, ok?

What's truly offensive about this book, though, isn't bandele's sophomoric prose, but the blatant attempt to market this to the book club demo, so white, middle-class women will feel like they're gaining some kind of special insight into that most foreign of creatures: The Black Single Mother.

Earnest girl-bonding discussions of the jailbird baby daddy and the alcohol-fueled nervous breakdown dangle before us the tantalizing cash value of communal soul-baring and comforting discussions of race and gender in which both blackness and femaleness are universalized out of existence by, paradoxically, clinging to stereotypes that keep black women safely - and ineluctably - in some other world.

Marketing: 1Literature: 0

The author's apparent sincerity makes this publisher cynicism all the more painful to watch.She's obviously been led down the primrose path to believe she's the next Alice Walker when, really, this is just proof positive that the book we each have within us should, in most cases, probably stay there.

Something Like....
Something Like Beautiful is a personal account of the author's romance with a prisoner on the surface. But there is so much more ashe bandele offers.She takes readers to states some are afraid to confront; depression and abuse.This confessional/poetry/journaling for her daughter seems to be to expose herself so that others, in and of her position, see that they aren't alone and it's okay to need help and equally okay to seek it.

I applaud bandele's courage in sharing her story.I'm sure she's been ridiculed by the taboo-ness of dating someone incarcerated, made to feel shameful for describing it so lovingly, and bashed for putting her business out there.But the realness of the situation makes for powerfully conveyed messages and she did it well.

Second Chances
I didn't read A PRISONER'S WIFE, but I liked the title of this book and wanted to see if the story would be as poignant.Needless to say, Asha is gifted with her craft and is sure to move you whether you can personally relate to her story as a single mother battling depression, pain, love and choices.

I'm a sucker at times for happily ever after.While Asha's life didn't take the road she'd banked on, she's able to maintain her job, love her daughter and survive, but at what cost?

SOMETHING LIKE BEAUTIFUL is moving.While many may not like memoirs, I believe that it's a good read that may inspire others.

Passionate & Urgent
"Something Like Beautiful" picks you up from the first page and gains momentum.Bandele is simply an incredible writer.In this memoir, not only is her prose clear & well constructed, but also it is incredibly passionate & urgent.The feelings that rush through the pages frequently collide with each other in the space between devotion & despair.Her struggle leaves you breathless and absorbed.The flow of the memoir is like a story.It follows a period from her courtship with the prisoner Rashid to her marriage to the birth of Nisa to divorce to dating Amir through depression to her final realizations and healing.It is an intense journey, one that I feel honored to have shared.Bandele's personal accounts are so brutally honest that the reader feels like a close confidante.Ultimately, this book should be embraced as much as read.Bravo!

Not what I was expecting
I should have read more reviews on the book before I purchased it.Asha ranted through most of this book.It had the potential to be a good follow up after the prisoner's wife. ... Read more

Product Description
Through thirty sets of eloquent and inspiring poems and meditations, Susanne Donoghue gives voice to the challenges and hopes of single parenting, inviting those who parent alone to put their trust in God. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Meditations for Single Moms
"Meditations for Single Moms" should be a treasure for all moms in this challenging situtation.

I found the book so empowering that I just order three more copies for my friends.This book is the first thingI read each morning! The reading reminds me of my blessings for the day.The layput of reading with one affirmation each day for the month has beenso helpful for me.It only takes a few minutes each morning to brighten myday.

This book is developed for all single mom's, no matter what stageone is in.I strongly recommend this little blue 91 page book for anysingle mom.Soon the pages will be maked and highlighted just like mine. Ihope that you will treasure the book and contents as much as I do!

Meditations for Single Moms
"Meditations for Single Moms" should be a treasure for all moms in this challenging situtation.

I found the book so empowering that I just order three more copies for my friends.This book is the first thingI read each morning! The reading reminds me of my blessings for the day.The layput of reading with one affirmation each day for the month has beenso helpful for me.It only takes a few minutes each morning to brighten myday.

This book is developed for all single mom's, no matter what stageone is in.I strongly recommend this little blue 91 page book for anysingle mom.Soon the pages will be maked and highlighted just like mine. Ihope that you will treasure the book and contents as much as I do! ... Read more

Product Description
A single mother's friendly, no-nonsense guide to balancing dating and parenting.

Embarking on the dating scene can be a fun though sometimes daunting prospect for any single woman. But for the more than 10 million single women in the U.S. with children at home, dating is a much more complicated matter. Whether uncoupled through divorce or death, single moms face a wide range of questions:

When will I be ready to date and how do I start? When-and what-should I tell the kids? What happens if I love the guy and the kids hate him?

In Mom, There's a Man in the Kitchen and He's Wearing Your Robe, Ellie Slott Fisher, a once-widowed, once-divorced single mother of two, speaks with refreshing candor about balancing dating and parenting. Drawing upon her own experience, the stories of many other women, and the advice of family psychologists, Fisher offers encouragement, strategies, and a healthy dose of humor for the single-but-looking mom-from how to meet men in the first place to when to introduce your date to the kids, from when and where to work sex into the equation to how to talk to your dating teenagers without looking like a hypocrite. Practical, funny, and hopeful, this is the one guide single moms need before jumping into the murky waters of the dating pool. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

Geared toward middle-aged women with older kids...
This book was a good read. I read it in a couple of days. This book is definitely geared toward middle-aged women with older kids (maybe 10 years old and older). Being a single mom in my mid-twenties to a 3 year old, the book didn't relate to me, for a many parts of it. However, the information in the book was good and I am sure that the personal experiences of those mentioned in the book could be very helpful and insightful to many. I would highly recommend this book to those middle-aged women with older kids.

Terrific "Real Life" Advice for Single Moms
Single moms are single, not dead.With humor, wisdom, and the insight only those who have "been there" can offer, this book helps single moms "get a life" without sacrificing the emotional needs of their chidren.

Single moms will also want to check out the completely revised third edition of The Complete Single Mother.

Words of wisdom in a cute cover!
This book, though a fun quick read, contains gems of wisdom on topics ranging from what to expect from your kids, depending on their ages, and when and whether to introduce your new flame to them, to how to handle your boyfriend sleeping over. Whether you're just recently single again, or have been out of the dating scene for years, this book offers sound advice peppered with humor.It was very helpful and reassuring to me to be reminded that there are millions of single moms out there, and we all go through similar challenges in trying to find someone worth spending time with and exposing your children to! I've already lent this book to a friend!

Excellent, engaging, FUNNY book for single moms - and dads
There are few books out there to guide us single dads in the dating scene - while we do what's best for our children too. And men generally do not like to discuss these things with each over beers or poker. Here we have a delightful book we can read in the privacy of our own homes, and even share with male friends who are going through the same experience (and we don't even have to discuss, just hand the book over!). A book that's insightful, honest and well researched - and funny too!

well done, but mostly for mom's and a bit lightweight
I read this book from the perspective of a single father who is dating because some
of the reviews suggested men would find it useful.And it was useful.It did gracefully discuss issues such as what to tell the kids, things to avoid, etc.

But it was clearly written for mothers; and, indeed, single mothers who have their
kids almost all the time.I also noted a lack of studies supporting the advice and,
indeed, most child-development advice seems to come from one expert (!?). ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (11)

Bland
I understand the point of this book, to show that some children have deadbeat dads.But my problem is this, the books flows until the end.Suddenly 'Grampa' comes into the picture.Almost like a new part of the story, but then the book abruptly ends.It's doesn't flow and suddenly the question of grampa and "Uncle so-in-so" comes up. It's okay to not have a dad, and it's okay to leave the extra men out too.

Do I Have a Daddy
This wasn't what I thought it would be. It is geared for a divorced single parent and I was hoping it was all inclusive of a child growning up without a father.Something that talked not only about divorce, but an unwed parent or where one of the parents was deceased.

Fosters negative stereo type of African American Male
I find this book offensive. The mother in the story is white. The absent father that has nothing to do with the child is black. It promotes a negative stereo type of the African American male. Do I Have a Daddy?: A Story About a Single-Parent Child

Do I have a Daddy?A story of a single parent child
Love this book.Finally I have something to use to help explains where my nephew'sdad is and why we don't hear from him.Thanks!

no dad in the family
this is a pretty good book dealing with the subject of a child not having a dad in his life.The only thing I really didn't like is that the story starts out with the child being teased about not having a dad, and I wouldn't like to put that idea into a child's mind if it had not happened yet.But overall, a helpful book to open the discussion. ... Read more

Product Description
Single moms, here s the encouragement you need for an entire year! 365 Whispers of Wisdom for Single Moms is a spiritual boost for those who need it most. This brand-new devotional provides practical encouragement for single moms in the trenches of life. Written by those who ve been there, 365 Whispers of Wisdom for Single Moms addresses your challenges, joys, fears, and hopes always reminding you of the God who provides strength, encouragement, peace, and sanity. Brief, easy-to-read meditations are ideal for time-starved single moms and feature encouraging scriptures and prayers. It s priced right at less than $8. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Finding Strength and Joy
This book compiled by Barbour Publishing contains Christian based inspirational messages for every day of the year for single mothers.Nine authors contributed to the 365 messages designed to remind single mothers to trust God with the challenges that they face each day as they parent alone.
While the message in this book of having faith and trust in God is positive there is not enough emphasis on the responsibility that single mothers have to find creative strategies for raising their children.While God is always there for us I believe that He expects us to find our strong inner self and become a mother who leads and inspires her family not a woman waiting to be rescued by God or anyone else in her life.
While parents and certainly single parents have much to deal with there is nothing in these readings that celebrates the joy that children bring into our lives regardless of our situation.There are those moments when we connect with our child or we see them succeed at some venture and there is pure joy.These are moments to be treasured and recalled on difficult days.I wish these bits of wisdom were more joyful.
Jeanne L.Ward Author of YOU'RE IT! SUCCESSFUL SINGLE MOTHERING AFTER DIVORCE

Execllent want to find time for God when you have no time
I have an extreemly busy schedule and find it hard to make time to pray and do my daily devotions. This book is great to keep me connected and grounded when I can't find the time to even think. Its 1 samll page a day. Each day opens with a verse, then an applicable life example, then it closes with a 2 line prayer. ... Read more

Product Description

Unfortunately, the divorce rate is on the rise-especially within the church! As a result, there are many single moms who daily face their own burdens of guilt and fear, all the while trying to care for their children and provide a stable home. These moms need special help, guidance, discipleship, and companionship.

There is help! This life-transforming program is a ten-week journey for single moms-focusing on healing the past, help for the present, and hope for a confident future. New Start for Single Moms is a program that pairs a mentor and a single mom together to explore potential, meet daily challenges, build peaceful homes, and accomplish dreams.

The kit includes:

• Ten DVD lessons that correspond with the Participant and Facilitator Guides
• Mentor training and recruitment tips
• Comprehensive facilitator guide
• Weekly discussion guides and communication tools
• Printable forms, worksheets, posters, and flyers on CD-ROM

... Read more

Product Description
Here's an opportunity to understand and reach the fastest growing segment of the population with compelling facts, no nonsense theological answers and hands-on tools for your ministry. "This book fills a niche never before addressed." Linda Hunter, Editor, Single Parent Family magazine, Focus on the Family ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The Hidden Mission Field
The Hidden Mission Field is an excellent resource to help the church leadership begin and build a Single Parent Family Ministry with simplcity. It offers Biblical foundation, real-life experiences, and practical advice.It also addresses the concerns of church leadership in a respectful andlogical manner. I would recommend it to both those with a burden for singleparents and church leadership. ... Read more

Product Description
Written by moms, for moms, the Mom2Mom books are vibrant, inspirational, and often humorous reflections on the most difficult job in the world.Each colorful installment reminds moms that they are not alone in the seasonal challenges of motherhood and encourages them to choose an attitude of gratitude.Single moms share a common bond and unique challenges.In this wonderfully honest and inspiring book, Karen Sjoblom passes the Kleenex and serves up a reason to smile.Sjoblom reminds moms that even on their worst day they really can thank God for the job. ... Read more

Product Description
The African American single-parent family has tended to be a scapegoat for a variety of social problems, ranging from poverty to drug abuse. As a result, there exists much misinformation about this family form. In this collection, the African American matriarchal family is re-evaluated to present a more informed picture of its actual structure and functioning.

From an Afrocentric feminist perspective, contributors examine the history, legal dilemmas, media images and religious values of these families. The roles of children, grandparents, fathers, other support figures and the government are reviewed. This insider view of these households concludes with suggestions of more effective and sensitive policy approaches to this t ... Read more