Toughest moments thus far was when my son came to me to inform me that he was going to start carrying condoms " just in case" ... Finding a hickey on his neck the night of homecoming, and the usual teenage angsty drama ...I am not ready to know my baby may or may not be having relations!

Oh and sending him off to his first year of high school... It was worse then when I had to leave him in Kindergarten.. I am glad I took that week as vacation because it was rough! I don't know how I am going to be able to leave him at college soon
I have been blessed that I am getting the teenage drama out of the way now.. Hes a good kid, no drinking or drugs thankyoujesus! And his only complaint is that with all of his activities he doesn't have time to see his friends [read: teen tart who has designs on my son]so we butted heads on that, but we are over the rough parts for now. I know I am blessed!

This summer my Dad was rushed into the ER, and my two teenagers and I drive 20 hours straight through from Omaha to South Carolina Med. center. I had to explain to the kids that we were 10 minutes late and would not get the chance to say goodbye to Papa. He had slipped into a coma from internal bleeding that they could not stop and everything failed. He died 48 hours later.

The hardest part is loving them everyday and knowing you will eventually have to let them go. God-I hope I do a good job. Their victories are my victories and their losses are my losses. I wish they would stay little forever. Because as I raise them, they too are raising me.

I can think of many different challeneges of raising a child as a single parent.. the one that stands out in my mind:

Giving birth and not being told my child had birth defects. I was the last one, LAST ONE to know. The nurse unwrapped the blanket from around my baby and when I saw what was wrong I cried a heart wrenching cry..

Then weeks later after seeing a 'specialist', finding out my baby needed surgeries.

Handing over my joy to the OR attendant more than twice in a one year span. Surgeries stopped by the second birthday.

Now 13, I love that kid more & more.

the toughest thing i have ever had to talk to my kids about was the fact that their father and I would no longer be together. My daughter was still pretty young at the time, though she still doesnt quite get it and still asks when we will all live together again. But my son was 9 at the time and took it very hard. He got into quite a bit of trouble and we had some really trying times. It is still hard for him but he is getting use to it. I love my children and they are the last ones I would ever want to hurt. But I think that if their father and I had stayed together that would have hurt them more in the long run. I hope that they understand that someday. They truly are my world.

i think one of the hardest things i have had to do is tell my 13 year old son he has to see a dr because of his severe depression and adhd. we had a rough time for a while but he is doin well now and he is not embarassed by it. he is a strong, handsome and somewhat normal (if teenagers can be normal...lol) young man who enjoys life. he is now a lil over 14 and extremely close to me. i think the next hardest thing is gonna be when he starts driving and dating...oh how i dont look forward to that! lol

The worst day for me was when I got a phone calll at work to inform me that my son confided in his teacher that his dad was hitting him hard. He had just turned 3 and to this day I still can't understand what a child of that age can do to deserve that.

having them leave home and go on their own. being unable to shelter them or make sure they are tucked in safe at night. i know my daughter is a good girl but still....you know as parents what i mean. plus, we are best friends, so my empty nest is lonely!

the hardest thing i ever had to do as a parent was say good bye
because my daughter was born with a cancerous brain tumor. Its not easy knowing that there going to die and there is nothing u can do about it. because u have already tryed everything.

(((( Katie ))))

Love & Light to you,,, My prayers

having my oldest daughter move out on her own......funny thing is I see more of her now than I did when she was here.

Being the father of 5 daughters I would have to say my hardest parenting moment is trying to keep my sanity

Telling my stepdaughter her mother has cancer.

#2 Telling my stepdaughter her boyfriend was killed in a car accident.

Telling my son about AIDS. Although he grew up living with his father, his father didn't talk to him about a thing that was important.

The hardest thing I have ever had to do as a parent was to inform my daughter that her brother was murdered the night before. This was my ex stepson who was only 19.

My oldest daughter has been besieged with health issues from her premature birth on. She is legally blind in one eye, has chronic, they now think rhuematoid arthritis. She is on crutches often.. and is teased about being a hypochondriac, at school, by her father and other relatives. She is fifteen, beautiful and talented, musical and an honors student. She has two sisters, one has ADD and the other is morbidly obese.
And dealing with the issues that come up with these girls breaks my heart. I'm a single parent like the rest of you.
Sometimes I just want to cry in my beer and hide my head in the sand. Its all so overwhelming.
But the....they walk in the door and say things like...
MOM I made all region (band). Mom, I got the grant to start a school newspaper (in fourth grade) They made me editor in chief!
or Mom! I got all A's this time! (from my child with ADD for the first time ever) and you never had to tell me to do my homework all quad. I did it on my own.
Or...Mom, can we take our christmas presents back. so and so at school...their dad lost his job..they wont have a christmas.
And they did,,take em back,,and those kids had christmas..and so did mine!!
So ....I'll cry when i need to cry, but mostly they are tears of joy. The kind of tears we parents shed.

When my daughter asked me why she was gay. I should of asked her to ask her mother but didn't think of it at the time.

Their was a point in my life that I had no control over my kids, they were drinking,smoking,doing drugs, stealing etc. I was at the point that I wanted to just give up, let the state take them. Instead I packed their stuff and moved them away from all the bad influances they had,and to a place where we could all start over. It was the hardest choice and the best choice I ever made.

I'm not parent, but on behalf of my parents: The hardest time would be finding a suicide note from their children.

Letting him go.....