The joys of solo parenting
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This week I have been solo parenting while my wife is away on a “work trip” to a private island in the Caribbean. To clarify, she is not an elite drug smuggler or head of an international crime syndicate (I don’t think), but a travel journalist.
Because of having a small child and then the pandemic, she’s pretty much been grounded for the past five years. And being a travel writer who doesn’t travel is like being a teacher who doesn’t teach or an actor who doesn’t act, or a parent who doesn’t parent. You get the idea.
So when she was invited on this assignment, I was excited for Jet-Set Jenny to get back on the road even if that meant me staying at home with the kid for seven days.
My mother-in-law wondered if us both being women meant we were more supportive and understanding of each other in this respect. A man, she reasoned, would probably be dreadfully jealous of his wife going off on such a luxury adventure without him. Are straight people really like that? I dunno.
I am on my hands and knees picking crayons up from the chip-strewn floor of Frankie and Benny’s while Jen is swimming in crystal clear waters on a private beach.
Anyway, I’m genuinely happy for her, and I’m actually also having a great time with my daughter even if I am on my hands and knees picking crayons up from the chip-strewn floor of Frankie and Benny’s while Jen is swimming in crystal clear waters on a private beach.
There’s something about it just being my daughter and I that feels calmer and easier to manage than the usual beautiful chaos that is the three of us. I’ve spoken to many solo parents who say the same thing - there being just one adult making all the decisions is simpler.
We’ve been getting on well and she’s not missing her Mummy too much, though she has been shouting “Mummy” up at the sky in the hope she’ll hear her. I think E is at the age where as long as her needs are being met in the moment she’s not thinking beyond that. But, she’s also been at nursery every day and as I write this we’ve yet to get through the weekend together - so maybe check in with me again on Monday when I’m lying on a pile of Pom Bear packets as Topsy and Tim autoplays and E decorates the living room walls with glitter stickers.
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