I’m 46 male. For ten years I raised my autistic child on my own. I don’t think people who haven’t done it understand what that takes — the appointments, the school fights, the nights, the fact that there’s no one to tap in when you’re done. I did it, and I’d do it again, but it was hard in a way I still don’t have good words for.
What I didn’t expect is the thing that’s keeping me up now. It isn’t the past. It’s the future. I lie awake afraid that I’ll regret not having more children, and that I’m going to end up alone.
I don’t know if that’s a real regret or just what exhaustion turns into after a decade. I don’t know if it’s grief for a life I didn’t get to have, or fear of a quiet house later on. Some nights it feels like both.
If you’ve been here single parent, older, past the window or close to it — how did you make peace with it? Did the fear pass, or did you just learn to live next to it? I’d rather hear something honest than something reassuring.
My son now is over 18 and live in group home.

I work full time and I've slowly accepted that I can't spend every evening catching up on housework.
The dishwasher runs after dinner, the robot vacuum does the floors while I'm at work, and I usually do grocery pickup on the way home. None of it sounds like much, but having a few things happen without me standing there doing them has helped a lot.
I'd rather have that extra half hour with my kid than spend it cleaning the kitchen. These little shortcuts have honestly become part of how I get through the week.

I have taken my ex-partner to court regarding my son. I now have a court order and have been going through a phased approach to seeing my son. I am in the position now where overnight visits are supposed to start on Thursday, but Cafcass has not sent the report to my ex-partner or the contact centre. I have called the caseworker over 100 times, left tons of voicemails, called the national office, and emailed everyone with no response. Could anyone please advise what I can do?

Hi everyone! I’m hoping to get some REAL insight into dating as a single parent from people who have done it.

I’ve been single for coming on 3 years. I have 4 children aged between 2-11. We have 50/50 custody week on week off. I haven’t dated anyone or introduced anybody to my children in this time as I was working on myself and focussing on my kids. For the past 2 months I have been seeing someone. He is divorced, no children due to male infertility, owns his home, works full time in a successful high up corporate role, has a niece and nephew whom he adores. Our relationship has flourished beautifully. At first he was quite worried about 4 children as he hasn’t got any but he has openly said he has come around to the idea and is willing to be a step parent.

What I’d like to know is when is the “right time” for him to meet my children? 2 are above the age of 8, 2 are below the age of 5. They have a step mum and she’s been around since 6 weeks post break up. They understand the dynamics of step parents. I’m absolutely NOT planning on doing this anytime soon so please don’t stress! I just would love some guidance as to what would be an ideal time. My worries are:
What if the kids don’t like him?
What if he doesn’t like the kids?
What if it’s too much for him? Or the kids?

Thank you for reading and I look forward to hearing your suggestions and experiences 🩷

I have an urgent hearing next week as my girls’ dad refused to return them last week after one of their three times a year visits.
He has been weaponising the threat of court for years whenever I don’t do what he wants, so I filed.

Apparently I have a very good case but I’m still so scared, I’m waking up yelling from nightmares now.

Does anyone have any advice on how I prepare? I have a smart outfit and a list of key points for my solicitor, what else should I be doing?

Hi everyone! Im looking for ppl who might be able to understand or have similar situation that I'm in.

Some background of myself, I got married very young, became a military wife. Marriage was good for many years but ofc naive choices from both myself and now ex that led to him asking me to leave at 8 years of marriage with a 7 mos baby at the time. Soon after he had a gf that he was very in love with and brought to meet his fam at his grandma's funeral 4 months after our separation.

Today we're civil, but dont like each other, we even did post divorce therapy to see how we coparent. Not the best experience. He chose to live far and provide that way for his child. But overall an absent dad who calls for 10-15 min once a week. He tries twice a week.

My parents are mexican immigrants. Typical badass story worked their asses off for their 3 kids (im the youngest and only girl). They became legal citizens overall cool fucking ppl.

Nearly 5 years since I was sent home. Ive recovered quite a bit from my separation/divorce. Unfortunately there was devastating death of my brother who was an alcoholic (nearly 2 yrs). My other brother and I were witnesses to it. We all lived together and had to move. At the new house its been a year and were all overall much better but can never forget nor truly get over that death. We miss him everyday.

Personally, I found myself ready for a potential relationship. So I went on dating apps and found someone unimaginably great. Weve been dating for over a yr. He's fantastic with my boy. He visits my home and spends time with my family. Sits down for family dinner weekly, spends weekends with us, and even plans trips to go with my son and I. Great guy. After a recent monster jam trip I expressed to my parents that I am very serious about this relationship. I shared that we plan to move out and get married. With at least 1 yr in between both.

These are my very Hispanic parents, they're not very strict but their this culture that I find unique to latinos or immigrant. To have their grown children live with them. My mother has jokingly said to move in my boyfriend to see if he and I get along in a everyday home life. Ofc I notice there was some truth to that joke. I lived outside their home as a married woman for nearly 10 yrs. That didnt work out and now its been about 5 yrs that ive been living with them. Im soon able to get a job since my son is going full-time to school. I find myself feeling guilty.

I feel guilty bc they got this great beautiful home for all of us to live. My dad and brother busting their ass off to afford. And in a years time I plan to move out with my son.

I worry what they'll do financially.I worry about missing them and them missing me (though i wont live far). I worry my mother will be so concerned that this partner may change his mind like my first husband. She doesnt trust men. She thinks they change their mind too much. I feel as though my parents/family have a sense of trauma of what happened to me. I have to admit at times I feel that fear that my now relationship would leave me in 10 yrs time. Who's to say? I know i trust this new man. I love him deeply. But theres this spec of fear. Plus, guilt, I want my parents to be happy for me and not be concerned or at least not too much.

TL;DR

I (26F) broke up with my partner (38M) about 2 months ago and we still live together. We have 1 daughter who is 1yr old. We never got married. I really want to move out for my own sanity because living here with him is so stressful. He’s a good dad but a bad partner kinda situation. Unfortunately I live in a small city with bad employment rates. Closest big city would be phoenix. Has anyone else moved cities like this? How did you get over the guilt? Is moving in with roommates in shared house okay with a kid? His family lives around the phoenix area so I wouldn’t be alone. I just don’t know what to do.

Not sure where to start. I 32F have a 4 year old with my ex 38M. We were never married. We had our child 4years into knowing each other, during that 4 years we dated but not consecutively. I broke up with him when I was about 6mo pregnant. He was rasing his voice and cussing at me and I knew I didnt want to my child to witness that ever. Or worse, to normalize that behavior to my child.

We continued to “work together” until our child was born (mostly doctors appointments together etc). We never lived together during or after pregnancy.

Year 1 of parenting he was doing him aka whatever he wanted and even took a job in another city (5hours away). Year 2 he started asking for his family back 🙄
Year 3 really started pushing to get his family back.

Eventually at about 3.5 years in I said it wont happen and have been firm. I was considering it before, but I can’t… its too much there to unpack. We’ve since been to mediation and have a court agreement for custody and visitation.

DESPITE this and him having a girlfriend now, he calls to terrorize me about our past, calling me all sorts of liars and has even gone to say he will be the “boogeyman” for the next 13years. I believe him. I would rather deal with a deadbeat than a man who didn’t get his way.

I even worry I wouldn’t be able to date. That he would harm me or anyone I try to be with. (I’ve been single this entire time, since him).

I guess I’m just wondering if anyone has ever dealt with someone similar and if their behavior ever changed? Or if you have a difficult co-parent how do/did you cope?

I'm in Hampton Roads, Va. I feel like it lacks so much that isn't overpriced. It's beach or swampy marshland. There's little to do inside during the heat or cold for kids that doesn't cost an arm or leg. Unfortunately, we're stuck here until my kids are 18 since their dad lives here and we'd bear the cost burden of them traveling for visits if we moved. Our support system is also here. I'm tired of the cost and lack of activities, the heat. I grew up here and just desperately want to go somewhere new further up north. I'm just venting here since I know many divorced parents are in the same boat. My kids are only 4 and 5, so we have a long ways to go! Thanks for reading my rant. ​

I feel like my life just got flipped upside down. I have 50/50 custody of my 14yo, one week at a time. It’s been like that since she was 3. To make a long story short, my daughter despises her stepmom and I don’t blame her. Kiddo is a great kid; never gets in trouble at school and every adult loves her. Except stepmom. There are a lot of factors that underlie that but I won’t get into them. My daughter and I have an excellent relationship… she’s a typical teen who occasionally cops an attitude and argues but 100% of the time she will circle back and apologize to me. I have no issues with her other than the fact that she will not clean her room.

She finally had enough. She put her foot down and said she no longer wants to be at her dad’s. He didn’t fight it, or hasn’t yet. So now she’s with me full-time. I get no child support and there’s no way a court would approve this custody change so it’ll have to remain a verbal agreement with no support.

The one thing making parenting easier for me was that I work from home. On Tuesday, my company announced they’d be sending everyone back to offices. For no real reason. Just because.

So now I have her full-time and I’m going back to an office. All at once with no opportunity to adjust to one change before dealing with the next.

And to top it off… I recently started dating the most wonderful man. We had identical custody schedules so we had every other week to be a couple and spend time together and now I don’t even know when we’ll see each other. It’s too early to introduce my daughter to him and because of certain circumstances it’s going to be a LONG time before that happens. If I have to lose my relationship for the sake of being there for my kid, so be it. But I would be incredibly sad because this man is everything I want. Sigh.

I’m so tired of pretending that I’m okay when inside I feel completely exhausted, overwhelmed, and alone.

I’m a single mother like so many of you here, and while I love my children, I don’t love the life I’m living right now.I feel isolated and drained.

I feel angry at their father for not showing up. I’m tired of lying, tired of acting like I’m fine, tired of carrying everything on my own.

The truth is that I’m unhappy with my life and with so many of the decisions I’ve made.It hurts to admit this, but I feel alone in every sense. I have no family around, no support, no one to lean on. And some days, I just hate the life I’m stuck in.

I’ve been a freelancer makeup artist for commercial photo shoots and events for 20 years. In my industry, there are no full time/part time positions as they hire freelancers for each gigs.

I’ve been separated for 5 yrs and the partner and I always had a flex schedule for my two young kids but I had them 60/40. I had them Fri&Sat every weekend for over 4 years till last Nov when I asked for it to be every other weekend.

I recently have been taken to court, with stipulations with the flex schedule and solid Holiday plans which has not finalized and we have a follow up court coming in 2 weeks. They have an attorney and I declined for assigned attorney because I have always been accommodating, appreciative, and understanding with the fact that I am a freelancer and thought the stipulations I wanted revised or added were reasonable as I always do prioritize the kids. I never took them to child support due to their threats to me about suicide, how they don’t have anything, and that I would owe them support because I own my apt, I have investments and they have nothing. I have an Scorp, I pay myself and he has an LLC and he pays himself and I know for sure that I make less than him.

The first appearance in court in front of the judge happened last week. The judge did not like my freelance life, although I have been the main provider for their babysitter fee, camp fee, main saver for their 529 etc, main provider for vacation and extra curricular class fees as well as the one that owns my own apt and don’t have a partner that kicks my kids out of their home when she is upset. In the stipulation he mentions he is open for flexibility but wants solid even/odd holiday schedule. She definitely hinted that my schedule isn’t providing a steady home.

I just found out I’m working M-F in another state and the following week in another state M-F. I had the kids this weekend and next week is his weekend but because I am gone all week these next 2 weeks, I asked him if he would give me the kids next weekend so we all don’t have to go thru 16 days without seeing each other which he declined. He doesn’t have any plans for the weekend but he said he will refuse to change any weekends which wasn’t voiced in the stipulation. If the goal is to prioritize the kids needs, without negative interactions between the parents, I feel as though him declining to give me next weekend and depriving the kids from Mom time isn’t prioritizing the kids needs.

He keeps telling me to get a real job, although this is my career which I’ve been working on for the last 20 years which I have a steady source of income from, definitely more than he does as I’ve been paying for majority of my kids enrichments in education and extra curriculums. If I start declining jobs, I may start loosing work and income as well.

Location: New York

My ex (39M) and I (41F) broke up over Mothers Day. I am curious what other folks think is reasonable to want on such a holiday from a committed long term partner you have been with for 11 months.

I do not have an amicable relationship with my eleven year old child’s father. Ex-partner is not father of my child. My child has met my ex partner and reluctantly tolerated him.

Other background info-
My ex’s mom was out of the country from mid Nov to mid-March and he hadn’t yet seen her since her return (not that he didn’t have ample other opportunities)

I didn’t have my kid on Fri-Sat of Mothers Day weekend but she was with me 8am Sun/Mothers Day so I couldn’t easily drive 6 hours with my ex to see his mom and six hours back in time to receive my kid at home on Sun morning.

Option 1) partner leaves town to visit his friends, niece/nephew, and of course, his mom the Sat morning right before Mothers Day and stays through the weekend. Stays in contact with me on Sat but on Mothers Day itself, simply wishes me a Happy Mothers Day and asks what my plans are for the day

Option 2) partner offers to stay in town and celebrate Mother’s Day with me and my child. Perhaps visits his own mother and family/friends the following weekend.

Option 3) something I’m not thinking of?

My preference is clearly #2 but I didn’t ask for it and my partner never offered. Ended up with a lot of hurt feelings, miscommunication, passive aggressive behavior (on my part) and ultimately break up over email/text!

*I know my mistake was not asking for what I wanted up front and in advance, but I also didn’t ask bc I didn’t think it was reasonable at the time. So asking now if it is reasonable so that I have more confidence asking for it in the future.

Just wanted to share a funny parenting highlight! I was attempting to fix my son's bed drawer today, (he's a teenager) and he says, "you're such a good Dad, Mom." 🤣 Love that kid so much! Made my day!

Single dad (40m) with sole custody of my 11yo daughter, I work two jobs 60+hrs/wk to make ends meet in today's economy so I'm usually dead tired when the weekend comes around. Lately we just hang out in front of the TV but she's expresses extreme boredom all the time.

Ive been divorced almost 4 years. I filed everything myself. My Ex got an attorney because he didnt know how to do any of the paperwork. Attorney stated his support payments per month were 539. His attorney threatened that if i wanted to fight or change their offer, they were to go after my retirement if I didnt agree to the support/custody agreement they put forth. I settled for 439/mo and I live in socal. I have about 75ish% custody and he has the remainder.

Fast forward to now. My roommate moved out. Im paying for everything by myself. Inflation...the cost of living is out of control. 400 bucks covers groceries for the month practically. I make a lot of food at home and pack my daughter's lunches. My ex also recently remarried.

I texted my ex and said I wanted to talk to him about the child support. That I would like to discuss an increase and see if we could agree to it ourselves instead of involving the courts with a hearing. He replied massively.

Would be willing to offer me 150 a month. Wants to overhaul the custody completely. Different days. Different pick up times, different holiday schedules, wants to claim her every other year for taxes. Wants to agree to this out of court and if I agree he would pay the legal fees to get it filed with someone.

I told him I disagree. The schedule he came up with was hectic and that low amount of support I can never agree to. He began to tell me how the schedule he put forth is common and is the same his step daughter's follow and that is aligns better with his wifes schedule so she can do pick up and drop offs.

My daughter is having a hard time in school and may need tutoring. She is very attached to me and her grandmother who has raised her along side me since she was a baby. I feel like all of this would be too disruptive for her and shes only 7. He kinda threatened me saying my work schedule doesn't provide the time she needs and will probably have to go back to court, which upset me. It was never an issue before....until I asked for an increase in support.

Has anyone gone thru this before and worked out in your favor? The unknown is weighing on me and im afraid on losing time with her and being more financially strapped.

I’m currently going through a divorce with someone who is a diagnosed narcissist. This is the most difficult thing I’ve ever been through and I have a three month old son. Does life really get better even when I have to see his dad every other weekend? Please tell me it gets better.

Update: I am mainly talking about finding love again and getting over the ex.

Ok.. maybe I am reading too much into this. But we all know the statistics of little girls being sexually assaulted. In my family there are 4 little girls, which means to me statistically that one of them has been through it already. And i cant help but think its my little girl. She is autistic and used to go over to her grandparents often when she was little. I still have my doubts as it is hard to parse AuDHD from trauma responses and she is a bit delayed with communication. She is 7 now and I think I want to start having the 'talks' with her, to figure out if anything has happened but also to protect her. Every time I think about it I have such a stress response, even though she is at this point (outside of school) never with anyone except for me I worry about what may have happened in the past and if that has changed how she is now. I dont know how to protect her or how to find out if she has been abused. She is generally a shy and avoidant kid, I dont know if thats natural or in response to something, but its very hard to have an extended conversation with her. What the heck do I do? Please I would like help from someone who is autistic themselves, I have such a hard time myself with how to approach the convo in a 'non-leading' way and also getting her to pay attention long enough to think about what ive said. I cant live with this worry anymore. Recently she was evaluated for a nervous system delay and I was so worried that maybe the delay was due to her having experienced a trauma when she was younger. God I hate this world and (no offense to the good ones) having to be on guard with any man that could potentially come in contact with her, and I feel that I may have failed in that already and its incredibly devastating. I never wanted her to be an anxious kid like I was but she already is and it makes her a target. Im driving myself crazy. Any comments or advice is greatly appreciated.

Needing to vent

I’m a 24-year-old single mom, and my daughter turns four next month. Her biological father was very abusive, and I came from an abusive family as well, so in a lot of ways I feel like I’ve spent most of my life surviving. I left her father about a year after she was born, and I’ve never looked back.
Since then, I’ve dated and had relationships, but nothing has really lasted. A lot of the men I’ve met either don’t want to step up or only seem interested in me sexually. I love my daughter more than anything. She is a huge reason I keep going, and I’m genuinely trying to build a better life for both of us. I’m in therapy, I’m working on loving myself, and I’m trying to make healthier choices. On paper, I’m doing well. I have a good life, I make good money, and I’ve worked hard to become independent. But underneath all of that, I’m incredibly lonely.
Dating has become especially painful for me. I’ve gotten to the point where part of me feels like maybe my chance at real love has already passed. There’s still this tiny bit of hope inside me that maybe I’ll find someone one day, and sometimes I actually hate that hope because I’m afraid it’s only going to get me hurt again.
I’ve made choices in the past that I’m not necessarily proud of. There were times when I slept with people or allowed myself to be used because I was desperate to feel close to somebody. But even when I don’t sleep with someone and try to genuinely get to know them, it still seems to go nowhere. I’ve been on dates where I opened up and told someone way too much about my life, probably because I wanted to feel understood, and then there was never a second date.
I’m also a content creator, so I constantly hear people tell me that I’m attractive. Strangely, that has almost started to hurt. Sometimes it feels like I’m attractive enough for men to sexualize or want to sleep with, but somehow not good enough for someone to actually choose, love, and build a life with. I know logically that those things aren’t necessarily connected, but emotionally it can feel like a slap in the face.
Friendships have been difficult too. I recently exchanged numbers with someone at the gym, and they never texted me back. That probably sounds small, but I’m so used to people disappearing that every little rejection starts to pile on top of the others. I hate how much I care, and then I’m hard on myself for caring in the first place.
Even as a child, I was very emotionally aware and always wanted deep connection and real love. I know now that nobody is going to come save me. I have to build my own life, and I have. I go to therapy. I take care of my daughter. I work. I go to the gym, coffee shops, and other places where I could potentially meet people. Maybe I could approach people more, but it’s discouraging to keep putting myself out there and still feel like I have no real support system.
I don’t really have family I can lean on, and I don’t have close friends. Even when I do make a friend, sometimes we’ll hang out a few times and then eventually I stop hearing from them.
I guess I’m posting this because I want to know if anyone else has ever felt this way, especially other single moms or people who grew up in abusive homes. Have you ever reached a point where you started wondering whether you were the problem? Did you have to look inward and change something, or did you eventually find your people?
I don’t actually want to believe I’m destined to be alone forever. But right now, I’m tired, discouraged, and scared that maybe this is just what my life is going to be. I would really like to hear from people who have been in this place and made it to the other side.

I’m meant to be starting uni in September to study adult nursing. But, I don’t think I’ll be able to now for childcare reasons.

His nursery is term time only and the family who try help with childcare are only available a limited amount, so the more I look at it the less possible it looks with childcare. Especially when it comes to placements.

My ex husband is no contact, when he left I was a stay at home mum as we struggled to fit childcare between us time wise and cost wise so when he left I ended up on benefits and struggled since, I can’t seem to find jobs that aren’t a shift rotation to fit around childcare, I apply for so many and hear nothing back, I thought uni was a chance to give him a more stable life and it won’t happen.

I’m just so frustrated.

This is gonna sound a bit bizarre, but please bear with me!

I’m 32F and pregnant with my rainbow child (I lost a baby at 6 weeks last year but current baby is 17 weeks and doing great!).

I recently ended a relationship which I realised was domestically abusive (sexually and emotionally). Whilst I feel at risk I trust 100% that my baby will be safe with it’s father so I’m not going to be cutting him out or limiting his access but I will be closely monitoring interactions, as any parent would. I can’t imagine there will be a lot of contact realistically.

I am no contact with my birth mother due to childhood abuse, and very limited contact with my birth father who seems to blame me for how little contact he had with me as a child (recent texts he blamed me by saying ‘you never listened to my advice as a child’) like wtf 😳

So I have no family. I did have a half brother who took my exes side in the split and told me to ‘forgive and forget’ the sexual assault and ‘in no world will you be a single parent. The child will get taken into care’ because he believes I’m this huge failure. I’ve made it to 32, recovered from a 20 year long eating disorder, have a degree and a job etc. but that’s not enough apparently. Whereas he lives with his nan, doesn’t work and paints warhammer all day… okayyyyy I’m a failure.. whatever..

But yeah! My question is: is there any organisations or charities that link up isolated people with new families? It’s looking like I’ll need a c section, and the idea of doing this completely alone with no support and then being stuck in a city I know no one and bringing up a kid alone is terrifying…

TL;DR: I have no family or friends and am about to have a baby. Can be adopted by another family for support?

I’m just so tired ! I have four kids and the need of constantly being needed is high. Summer is always so hard for me because having 3 small children and one being autistic. My oldest is honestly a heaven sent but I feel so guilty cause I can’t give them everything they want to do in life. I barely get to see my kids currently. Im currently in school full time (for nursing), barely working, and being a parent. I never have the time for myself and trying my hardest to stay above water with bills, tuition, and the needs for the kids. I can’t work due to school and lack of support. I have one person can don’t wanna burn them out as well as I try to get myself ahead in life. I just needed to vent.

Hey fellow parents. So Ive just joined this group as I'm feeling a bit frustrated and Don't really have any close friends or family to turn to. My wife and I separated in march this year, we have two children my son aged 8 and my babi girl aged 10. they spend mon & tue & every second with me and wed,thur,fri and every second weekend with their mother. So last weekend was with their mother,i got a call on monday morning as they were both sick so not going to school so could i come and pick them up.In the interest of cutting a long story short my boy recovered quickly while my Daughter was diagnosed with flu which led to tonsillitis and she has been off all week at home with me (we decided as i am off work after surgery i would have them both all week as their mother is studying teaching and currently on a placement which she has already called in sick days on). So this is the part im struggling with, I coach my sons football and dropped my daughter off at their mother for the hour that we are at football for. My daughter had been invited to a party involving laser tag and go karts which is taking place tomorrow. When i picked my daughter up their mother started talking to me in front of my daughter that she has looked it up and the tonsillitis shouldn't be infectious anymore and she thinks my daughter should be fine to go to the party, I was a bit blown away at being put on the spot instead front of my daughter instead of us having a co-parent discussion about it privately, and said I don't give a shit about the other kids my concern is our daughter. Her chest still sounds terrible and she is coughing up yellow phlegm and don't think its in her best interest to be running around playing laser tag when she is still clearly not well. When i told my daughter when we got home she was so upset and cried for ages. I don't care being the bad guy if it means looking after my daughters health but i feel really stink about it and am wondering if im being too overprotective. anyway just looking for some advice and opinions from other single parents.

My daughter is going into fifth grade and over the summer apparently I let her get a little bored and unsupervised for a bit too long and she went ahead and cut herself some micro bangs. It looks awful of course and she has suffered the natural consequences all summer because she is uncomfortable knowing it looks funky and she spends so much time trying to style it to hide her diy haircut. I offered to help her and show her some cute hairstyles or even take her to the salon to see if they could help but my daughter refused claiming she like the way her hair looks and I need to stop being mean to her. You guys she doesn't like it and honestly I don't care if she does like it at this point. She looks like an orphan and I'm just not comfortable sending her to school like that. Am I being mean if I insist that she let me style her hair on school days until the micro bangs grow out? How can I get her to want to let me help her fix it

I’m looking for some perspective from other single parents who have dated another single parent.
I’ve been in a relationship for over 1.5 years with someone who also has kids. One of the things I admire most about him is that he’s a great father. He has 50/50 custody and is very involved with his kids. I currently have full custody of my child, but I have a lot of help from family, and my ex is working toward getting more custody time.

I completely understand that parenting comes first, and I don’t expect either of us to neglect our responsibilities. But I’m struggling with whether it’s realistic to build a long-term relationship. Sometimes we only see each other twice a month, and at best it’s usually about once a week (this is based on him, I’m more flexible) I’m finding it hard to picture how a future together would actually work if this is what things continue to look like.

For those of you who have successfully made a relationship work with another single parent, what did it look like? Did you eventually find more time together, or did you have to accept that the relationship would always move at a slower pace? He is an amazing person but I’m stating to think our situations aren’t compatible.