Life can really get you down, can’t it? As a Solo Parent, there are already so many limitations that seem like they are well beyond our control. We all sometimes feel alone, scattered, or misunderstood. No one could possibly know what I’m going through, right? Well…maybe not. This week, I am happy to share the story of one Mom who wasn’t content to let limitations be her master.
Sara Dean is a Seattle-based podcaster and gym owner. She runs the show at Shameless Mom Academy, a podcast all about sharing stories of parenthood in full honesty. Sara says that her podcast was born out of the struggles of parenthood, and she knew that if she shared how she beat her own limits, you and I might walk away with our heads a little higher. Our stories, our struggles, and our triumphs shape who we are, and transformation begins when we share them. I am consistently being inspired by Sara’s vulnerability, and I know you will be too.
What limits are you holding on to? Let them go today!
Also in this episode:
Links
Work with Sara through her website:
Hey there Solo Parents! This week is all about dating, with a fairly heavy emphasis on women and how they navigate relationships. For all our male listeners, we need your feedback too! There are tidbits of wisdom for everyone in this episode, and what a fun topic too. Dating, for better or for worse, is an exhilarating, complicated task. To help us out we sat down with Nichole DiRocco, a dating and life coach with an eye towards the kinds of struggles single parents will inevitably face once they step out into dating.
Once she started coaching, Nicole noticed that women in leadership positions, while seeing success in the working world, had a much more difficult time in the dating realm. The same could be said for a Solo Parent. As Nichole says, we are essentially the “CEO of our lives.” Used to initiating, taking charge, and setting terms, it can be difficult for a single mom to sit back and be pursued… Not to mention all the other vulnerabilities and anxieties we go through waiting for the phone to ring!
So how do we do it? How do we date with grace and respect towards ourselves and our unique stage of life? Check out this episode to see!
Links
Nicole DiRocco, ACC
Dating and Relationship Coach for Executive Women
Visit: Dating With Grace.me
This week, let’s sit down and do something a little different. I really wanted to share a co-parenting success story that is very near and dear to my heart. Kat was our beloved babysitter, and her parents divorced when she was young. If two parents managed to handle divorce the “right” way, it was Sandra and her husband.
I have Kat and Sandra on the show this week, and together they tell the story of their family, just so we can all gain a little perspective. Sure, their family may look a little different than what they had hoped it would be, but with sacrifice and intrepid spirits, their family still had two supportive parents doing everything in their power to be present with their children. Just like it takes work to make a marriage, it takes work to make a divorce too! I think Sandra’s courage and compassion is so inspiring, so join us this week to see how.
Also in this episode:
One of the best things about this podcast is that we have such a fabulous community. I am thankful for all the comments and questions, and so this week I wanted to change the pace just a bit and tackle one such questions I’m seeing more and more often: How can I take care of myself while my children are away?
Ah, yes. Times of separation from our kids can be painful, uncertain, and difficult to manage. When we spend so much of our time and energy making sure our children are happy, healthy, and cared for, it can be jarring to not have those concerns 24/7. What can we do to take care of ourselves when we have this time? I want to show you in this episode that time away from your kids can be a gift in disguise. I’ll share some of my best ideas, and I hope to hear your self-care ideas in return. Together, we can do this thing!
Want even more cools ways to get involved? Sign up for the Solo Parent Newsletter, and find all the information about the Single Parent Summit coming up soon!
In this episode:
Books I love
Radical Acceptance by Tara Brock
True Refuge by Tara Brock
Links
Join the Newsletter on my Website!
When a marriage ends, the effects are far-reaching—from the emotional, psychological, logistical…and financial. I’m sure for so many of us, the last thing on our minds when we begin our Solo Parent journey is our finances. Eventually, the bills start rolling in, and we have to look at the bank statements up close. Houses get sold, finances that were once shared are no longer in a joint bank account. Who can you turn to when you start swimming in dollar signs?
Enter Shawn Leamon, host of the “Divorce and Your Money” Podcast. Shawn is a Financial Planner and guru who is passionate about being there for folks who are living through a difficult time. Separation and singlehood can bring us many complications, so Shawn is here to help. Let Shawn’s experience and savvy be your guide in this info-packed episode of “Solo Parent Life.”
Links
Find all of Shawn’s episodes and advice at
Once you embark on the Solo Parent Life, there’s a period we all experience when we have to start making some mental shifts. Life as we understood it is changing. As daunting of a task as that might seem, it is also an opportunity to re-define your family. It is a chance to dive right into something new and better than before. That is just what Theresé Connolly did.
Theresé is a Mother to one boy and champion of Parents and Families who are ready to grow and develop healthy mindset habits together. Theresé was divorced shortly after relocating, and she found herself alone in a new place. Instead of letting life roll over her, Theresé decided to jump into her community through her son’s school and workshops. Now, Theresé is beginning a new journey as a Parenting and Life Coach. Ready to see how she did it all? Listen and find out!
Links
http://www.mindfulkidsandfamilies.com/
The school is ending, and change feels imminent. For a single parent, these times can be both amazing and lovely, but difficult and trying at the same time. Given that season's ebb and flow with the times, it is important to take time to pause and give gratitude for all the wonderful things we have in our lives. When you are living the Solo Parent Life, nothing could be of more importance than a community of good people to support and care for you. When that community reaches back out, well that’s just icing on the gratitude cake.
Amy Rice Jones reached out on a local single parenting group with how much the podcast has impacted her life. Her journey is inspiring and ongoing, and the kind of story worth sharing. Amy teaches us how to be present. Be present with your kids; be present with yourself. Join In with the big story this week, and take heart for this season of change and transition.
Show Highlights:
Are you struggling to figure out how to work your finances so that you can build a really solid financial future for yourself and your children? If so, you will really benefit from listening to today's show, with Tanya Steinhoff, a Financial Advisor and also a local mom! Listen in, as Tanya helps you understand how to take ownership of your financial life.
It can be really hard to make the right decisions about money, over time, as the children get older and things evolve and change. Tanya works with young families and also with single mothers after their divorce, helping them to understand their money and budget. She shows them a good way of thinking about how to budget and helps them to move forward with the different phases that everybody seems to go through, in their journey towards retirement. Listen in today, as Tanya talks about some things that would be helpful to you, as single parents and offers you a great number of resources and books to read, to build a good, solid financial future.
Show Highlights:
Links:
Tanya's website: www.redwoodgrovewm.com
Tanya can also be found on Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin.
Books: Prince Charming Isn't Coming by Barbara Stanner
The Elements Of Investing by Burton Malkiel and Charles D. Ellis
Do you feel like your lawyer can give you the best financial advice during your divorce? Today’s guest thought so too and ended up making some very costly mistakes. Her mistakes motivated her to become a Certified Divorce Financial Analyst so that she can help others avoid the mistakes she made.
Melanie Johnson lives in Austin, TX and her firm specializes in helping people who are going through divorce sort out their finances and plan for their financial future. Clients may be trying to figure out how they are going to survive with reduced income or may be trying to figure out how to pay for college and other aspects of their children’s lives. Melanie specializes in making sure you are covered financially in every aspect of your divorce. She uses the facts and the numbers to show you the real cost of decisions, so you can make the best ones for you and your children!
Show highlights:
Resources:
Melanie’s Website - www.divorce-financial-solutions.com
Second Saturday Divorce Seminars - austindivorceworkshops.com or secondsaturday.com
Have you ever felt like you are a bad parent? Maybe you’ve felt this way because your child is having a meltdown in the store and you just won’t give them what they want. There are lots of other situations on a daily basis that can test our limits as a parent. Today’s show will offer some alternative methods to help your child through these moments of discomfort, in a way that will make it easier for you to parent in the long term.
Today’s guest is Taylor Ross. Taylor is a local parent consultant and I wanted her to come on the show today and talk about her role in consulting with parents and what she does to help parents stay connected to their children. She’s specifically talking about how to deal with those uncomfortable moments as a parent.
Taylor has a passion around having relationships that build connection and trust and parenting is her specialty. She helps in a variety of situations, such as behavioral issues or family dynamics. She offers guidance and support to parents struggling to find a connection with their child when they are struggling with difficult emotions. She helps families build a more connected and loving relationship between the parent and child.
Show Highlights:
Connect with Taylor:
taylor@thepracticeofparenting.com
My guest today is Jax Anderson, of Psykotherapist.com. We are in a Facebook group for therapists together that focuses primarily on marketing, especially through videos. Jax’s work is primarily with teens, and she’s created some cool videos about how to talk to your teen, along with other helpful resources for parents, teachers, and counselors. Two topics that Jax is passionate about are helping 8th graders transition to their high school years, and how to manage a bullying situation. Join us!
What you’ll hear in this episode:
Resources:
www.psykotherapist.com (Visit Jax’s online store, watch videos, and check out her blog!)
Does your teenager have anxiety? Being a teenager is hard enough, but add to that peer pressure, social media, school testing and relationships, and it’s no wonder that many of today’s teens are facing a very real battle with anxiety.
If you'd like to learn how to become a pillar of support to your teenagers, to help them through this really challenging time in their lives, listen in to today's show, and find out from Robbin's guest Lorraine Platt, who is with Teen Solutions.
Lorraine and her husband, Richard do some really good work with teen girls and boys and their parents. Today, Lorraine, who is both compassionate and a wealth of knowledge, talks about the hot topic of teens and anxiety. Listen in now and find out how you can really support teens, with all that they have coming to them.
Today, Lorraine talks to Robbin about:
•The high levels of stress for teens today.
•Where she becomes concerned about the stress turning into worry.
•What she sees coming up with teens who are battling with stress.
•The most important message that you can give to your child: You're enough and I love you exactly as you are.
•The need for boundaries with parents and teens, to create a sense of safety.
•The need to rest and integrate and recover from the necessary stress.
•The importance of healthy downtime in teen's lives.
•That boredom has value in stimulating creativity.
•A good boundary to use- taking away your teen's cellphone at night.
•That it's never too late to create boundaries with teens.
•How important it is for your teen to feel connected to you and supported, if they're experiencing anxiety.
• Finding balance, to relieve anxiety.
•Creating the space for your teen to hang out with you... and not with their cellphone.
•Ways that teens tend to try to have control and slow things down in their lives.
•Why teens tend to resist so much.
•That the expectations placed on teens today are higher today than they were in the '70's and '80's.
•Ways that you can begin to connect meaningfully with your teenager.
Links:
For Robbin's Infographic, go to: www.soloparentlife.com
For Lorraine's blog, go to: www.teensolutionstherapy.com
My guest today is Cindy Witteman, from San Antonio, Texas. She’s a former single mom of three girls who has created a non-profit called Driving Single Parents, Inc. She finds and donates a car, with the license, tax, and title paid, to a needy single parent. Single parents often find it difficult to secure resources and support, but Cindy’s inspiring story shows what can happen with a heart to give back and help others. Join me for Cindy’s story!
What you’ll hear in this episode:
Resources:
Email Cindy: drivingsingleparents@yahoo.com
Call Cindy: 210-251-5666
Donate to Driving Single Parents here!
My guest today is Laura Harrison, owner of Less Mess, More Life. Laura has helped make some awesome changes to my home and helped me be motivated to purge things that needed to GO. I’ve gotten organized and transformed our family room. My kids were excited and amazed when they saw the house less cluttered and more functional. Do you want to find inspiration and tips on letting go of all those toys, clothes and extra stuff? Laura has nuggets of wisdom to help you! Join us!
What you’ll hear in this episode:
Resources:
Find Laura on Facebook and Instagram, too!
If you enjoyed learning about the Hand In Hand approach to connecting with your children and you would like to know more, you will really gain a lot from today's show, with Robin Setchko as guest. Robin was the leader of the Hand In Hand Intensive Group, which was featured in episode 23 of this show (Parenting Through Connection www.soloparentlife.com/23). Listen in today, as she talks to Robbin about her work with Hand In Hand and how it's helped her, both as a professional and as a parent.
Robin, who lives in Northern California, is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and she's also the parent of two young adults, a twenty-five year old daughter and a twenty-two year old son. She works a lot with parents and also with individuals. More and more of her work has moved towards working with parents, as she's found that raising children and wanting the best for them has shown to be a really effective way to bring things up in parents, that need to be worked on. Listen in today and find out more about how you can move closer to your children, as you move things out of the way.
Today, Robin and Robbin discuss:
Links:
Robin's email: rsetchko@sonic.net
Robbin's email: soloparentlife@gmail.com - To join Robbin's upcoming Parent Group, put 'Parent Group' in the subject line and email her.
If you would like to find a new and effective way to really connect with your children, you will gain a lot from Robbin's guest on today's show, Patty Wipfler. Listen in today, to find out about Patty's loving way of listening.
Warm and compassionate Patty, who has worked with thousands of families over many years, is the author of the book Listen, which offers some groundbreaking tools for parents, to help to strengthen their connection with their children and to build their children's intelligence, cooperation and their ability to learn. Join Robbin and Patty today to get some really great listening tools and learn how to address the root cause of your child's difficult behavior.
Today, Patty talks to Robbin about:
Links:
Patty's website: www.handinhandparenting.org
If you're a parent going through a difficult transition in your life and you could really use some support, listen in to today's show, with Robbin's guest, Tricia Wiig, and find out how she assists mothers through her faith-based support.
Tricia is the Director of Children and Family Ministries at United Methodist in New Valley and she also runs a faith-based support group for mothers. She has a wonderful way of talking to people about how to move through different life transitions and how to tap in, incorporate and thrive around their faith. Today she talks to Robbin about faith and about remembering how important it really is to have faith to ground you, when you're going through transitions in life- even that of becoming a parent. Listen in to find out more.
Today, Tricia talks to Robbin about:
Are you co-parenting with someone who you suspect to be a narcissist? If you would like to find out if this is actually so and what you can do in that case, listen in to today's show, with Robbin's expert guest, Wendy Behary, who has a really deep understanding of narcissism, having worked with narcissists for more than twenty-five years and find out how to deal with the situation.
Wendy, who has a private practice in Springfield, New Jersey, is the author of the book Disarming The Narcissist- Surviving and Thriving With The Self-Absorbed. As a trained psychotherapist, she spends most of her time educating the general public and other clinicians around the world about how to work with the very challenging narcissistic client. She also teaches people how to deal with narcissism in their lives. Wendy stumbled on this as her specialty, through her curiosity about her own reactions in the treatment room, when she was confronted with narcissists. She found herself reacting as she would have as a little girl - caving in and apologizing, rather than responding as an adult therapist. This was a start to her adventure of learning and teaching about narcissism. Listen in today and to find out more about how to handle the narcissistic behavior of a co-parent and set yourself free from the associated drama.
Today, Wendy and Robbin discuss:
Links:
Wendy's website: www.disarmingthenarcissist.com
My guest today is Anya Manes, whose work I’ve followed for a while. She educates parents about talking to their kids about sex, holding workshops and webinars especially for parents of tweens. After dealing with awkwardness and strife in her family surrounding sex, she became a high school biology teacher and realized the need. She explains practically how to handle these difficult topics with your child, and why you shouldn’t wait until the middle school years to have these discussions!
What you’ll hear in this episode:
Resources:
www.talktokidsaboutsexseries.com (Anya’s resources)
Sex is a Funny Word by Cory Silverberg
Would you like to know more about the concept of temperament and how it can give you a clearer picture of who you are? Or would you simply like to be able to appreciate others more than you do now? If this rings true for you, listen in today and find out as Stacey Horn, the guest on today's show, spells it out.
Stacey is an ever-evolving social worker, who specializes in relationships. She has been working as a therapist in Aspen, Colorado for the last twenty-five years and now also works with people online. Stacey, who is passionate about the concept of temperament (or personality), has recently been doing a lot of coaching, which she sees as an educational process. She works mainly with families and couples who are no longer together. Listen in and find out more about temperament and how it makes sense out of relationships.
Today, Stacey talks to Robbin about:
Links:
Stacey's website: www.staceyhorn.com
Stacey's phone no. 970 616 44 01
Stacey's Podcast: The Deeper Connections Podcast (Soon to be launched)
Robbin's website: www.soloparentlife.com
Resources:
Books: I May Frustrate You, But I'm a Keeper by Ray W. Lincoln
I'm Still A Keeper by Ray W. Lincoln
Innerkinetics by Ray W. Lincoln
If you would love to really connect with your kids on a deeper level, but you're battling to keep your head above water with the daily demands of life as a single mom or dad, listen in today and find out how you can adopt a new and more effective approach to parenting.
Today's guest, Julie King is co-author of the book How To Talk So Your Little Kids Will Listen. After completing Law School and having had her first child, Julie became aware of how people were talking to their children and realized that most people knew nothing of the approach to child rearing that she, herself had been raised with. When her daughter was in pre-school and Julie was studying Group Facilitation and Group Development, she offered to read a workshop-style book on child rearing to a parent group at the school. Due to the demand from the parents attending this group, it continued way beyond the initial eight week period and eventually turned into an ongoing support group for the next four and a half years! Other people heard about it, so Julie was asked to facilitate other groups and this is how Julie found herself involved with something fantastic, that she had not planned on doing. Listen in and find out how Julie conferred with her old friend Joanna Faber, who was doing similar work on the East Coast and how they ended up writing a book together. You're going to find this conversation really helpful!
Due to the demand from the parents attending this group, it continued way beyond the initial eight week period and eventually turned into an ongoing support group for the next four and a half years! Other people heard about it, so Julie was asked to facilitate other groups and this is how Julie found herself involved with something fantastic, that she had not planned on doing. Listen in and find out how Julie conferred with her old friend Joanna Faber, who was doing similar work on the East Coast and how they ended up writing a book together. You're going to find this conversation really helpful!
Today, Julie talks to Robbin about:
Links:
Julie's website: www.julieking.org
Julie's Book's Website: www.howtotalksoyourlittlekidswilllisten.com
Robbin's website: www.soloparentlife.com – For the infographic for when parents are stressed.
Facebook Group: Solo Parent Life
We’ve all had moments where we felt negative space between ourselves and our children. It’s important to find ways to connect with them in those times, in the happy times, and in the sad times. But, sometimes as parents, we need to listen and be supportive and leave space to let them release feelings. This isn’t about making wrong or right decisions, but allowing them the moments to separate those feelings so that they can make good decisions. Learn how to manage these feelings and handle these situations by tuning into Solo Parent Life, with your host, Robbin Rockett.
Resources:
If you're unsure about dating as a single parent, or how to introduce a new partner to your kids, listen in and find out from today's guest, Nettie Reynolds, how single, yet supportive co- parenting has really worked for her and her partner.
Nettie, a positive and supporting person with integrity and courage, is a storyteller, a performer, a Hospital Chaplain and the single mom of two young adults. Listen in today and discover how she has managed to incorporate her partner into her life with her kids successfully and in a truly unique way- perhaps a way that could work for you too.
Today, Nettie talks to Robbin about:
Links:
Nettie's website: www.nettiereynolds.net
Nettie on Twitter: @netreynolds
Robbin's email: drrockett@soloparentlife.com
For Robbin's infographic, go to: www.soloparentlife.com
Nettie recommends: Listen To Your Mother on Youtube.
When it comes to navigating life, we could all use a little assistance. Being a single parent is difficult, and it’s reassuring to know you’re not the only one making monumental decisions for yourself and your children. Introducing dating into the mix can also make your life a little more complex. Dating as a single parent is something we will probably all face at some point, so we wanted to give you some great advice to help you steer clear of the pitfalls of dating again! Stay tuned to hear some authentic, honest, and helpful advice from hardworking, single mom, Katy Olds, with your host, Dr. Robbin Rockett.
Listen as Katy also discusses:
Parenting is difficult no matter the situation and transitioning into being a single parent can be scary. You have to completely reestablish and build not only your life and social circle but yourself. If you’re struggling with making a decision about dating, or simply want to hear another point of view, tune in while your host, Robbin Rockett, collects some helpful tips and tricks from single mom, Dr. Jill Gross.
Connect with Jill: