Solo Parent Life | Single Parent | Divorce | Single Mom | Single Dad

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:

• Challenges of becoming a newly single parent 
• Strategizing how to meet people
• When is it too early to put yourself out there 
• Don’t bury the fact that you’re a parent out of embarrassment 
• Appreciate the new, available opportunities 
• Taking time to decide if you’re ready to date 
• Finding validation in yourself 
• Arranging dates and minimizing electronic communication 
• Deciding your boundaries and requirements 
• Being honest about your circumstances

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. 

• The process of online dating as perfected by Jill
• The importance of knowing what you want and don’t want 
• Setting up values and enforcing them 
• Always be truthful and know the audience you're appealing to 
• Be sure to express yourself and not to advertise something meaningless 
• Online dating is just an introductory 
• Someone who’s serious about a relationship will want to keep the virtual communication to a minimum 
• It’s easier to communicate through a screen and the internet can be deceiving 
• The importance of being honest and cutting off relationships if necessary 
• Focusing on how that person makes you feel and the atmosphere they give off 
• Focusing on the present in the relationship
• Getting to know someone takes time 

Connect with Jill:

www.drjillgross.com

If you're a recently divorced parent and unsure if you're ready to begin dating, or if you'd like to find out how to know when the time is right, listen in to today's show and find out from the guest speaker, Jill Gross, what you can do to ensure that you're well prepared for meeting a possible new partner.

Jill is a psychologist, living in Seattle and she's the single mom of two kids, aged 12 and 14. She has been divorced for about eight years and during that time, she developed a system, which is effective when it comes to playing the dating game. Jill should know, as she found herself a new partner that way and they have been together for the last three years. Join Robbin and Jill today, for the first half of a two-part series about dating and being a single parent and find out how to know when you're ready to date.

Today, Jill and Robbin discuss:

• Some sound advice for single moms and dads, about where to start with the dating game.
• How Jill relates to the problems experienced by single parents.
• Dealing with the grief of divorce when dating.
• The HOW to do it- Honesty  Openness and Willingness to try. (Melody Beattie)
• Dating from a place of adding value, rather than filling a void. 
• The end of a marriage can feel like a death and it often requires mourning to come to terms with it.  
• Why it can take you a couple of years to work out your 'stuff' after your marriage ends.
• Using support or interest groups to be with people who are going through the same thing as you are.  
• Getting out of your comfort zone and trying something new, something that scares you a little, even.          

Links:

Robbin's website: www.soloparentlife.com -This is where you sign up for the Solo Parent Life Weekly Newsletter.

 www.drjillgross.com

Resources:

Robbin suggests: www.meetup.com

Would you like to learn to deal with stress on demand, in the moment? Or to be an example to your kids of how they can cope with challenging times? Then listen in to today's guest, Dr. Melanie Greenberg and learn about how you can transform life's stresses to positive motivation.

Melanie is a psychologist, coach, speaker, and author, who helps people to manage the stress in their lives. She has recently written a book called The Stress Proof Brain, due to be released at the end of January. Join her and Robbin today, as they discuss ways that you can get back to the present and connect with your kids, when feeling stressed, overwhelmed and flooded with negative feelings.

Today, Melanie talks to Robbin about:

•The effects of stress on the brain.

•The value of mindfulness.

•How you can raise resilient kids.

•Techniques for you to move out of stress and into observation.

•Using your breath as an anchor for mindfulness.

•The value in having a daily mindfulness practice.

•Deep breathing to ground you quickly.

•Building your mindfulness muscle.

•Changing your relationship with negative thoughts.

•Breaking the cycle of ruminant thoughts.

•Dancing with your kids and coloring yourself calm.

•The ripple effect of practicing mindfulness.

Links:

Melanie's website: www.drmelaniegreenberg.net

Nick Bender, the guest on today's show, is the twenty-seven-year-old single dad of a gorgeous five and a half-year-old son. He also has a podcast, called Single Parent Podcast, a nitty gritty bare bones kind of show, offering great suggestions to single parents about all aspects of single parenting.

Today, Nick talks to Robbin about how much he loves living the life of a single parent. He also talks about his podcast, how it came about, his motivation in doing it and how it has helped him to grow into becoming a better co-parent. Listen in and find out how you too, can create a better life for yourself and your child, going solo.

Listen to this episode as Nick and Robbin talk about:

• What Nick has learned about the court system and how it can help you.
• How his podcast has helped him to better articulate his thoughts and feelings around being a parent.
• Nicks “recording studio” in his car.
• The amount of energy it takes to be a single or a co-parent.
• How he came to love his single parent life by embracing it.
• Why Nick thinks it's easier to be a co- parent than to be married with kids.
• Why it's really important to spend time alone.
• The 3 things Nick recommends to make co-parenting so much easier:
• 1) Develop trust
• 2) Be flexible
• 3) Don't sweat the small stuff
• Being flexible, yet maintaining firm boundaries.
• How in the past, Nick's need to avoid conflict outweighed his need to be honest.
• How much easier life can become when you learn to brush (the small) things off.
• How children feel the weight of unspoken resentment between parents.
• How changing your attitude for the better will feed through to the other co-parent and that they are likely to start doing the same.
• You cannot control other people.

Links:

Find Single Parent Podcast is on iTunes and on Facebook.

Nick on Facebook: Nick Bender

Robbin's website: soloparentlife.com

To ask questions or leave feedback, go to: www.bit.ly\soloparentlife17

Welcome to January and our theme of dealing with stress and anxiety! My guest today is Elizabeth Bonet, who hosts the podcast Hypnotize Me. She’s fast becoming a friend, sounding board, and supporter. She is a single mom, a psychotherapist, and hypnotist in private practice in south Florida---and she’s a former teacher of prenatal yoga. From her wide range of experiences, Elizabeth is here to share advice about being mindful and productive as an entrepreneur. Join us!

What you’ll hear in this episode:

• How entrepreneurship gives freedom and flexibility to single moms
• Elizabeth’s tips for managing stress:
• • Recognize it
  • Regroup
  • Check in with others
  • Set limits around work
• How meditation can help manage stress—even just five minutes!
• Elizabeth’s “car meditation” breathing exercises
• Why the podcast, Hypnotize Me? To learn more and help educate others
• Benefits of hypnotherapy, including help with trauma, anxiety, depression, and smoking cessation
• “Inner child” work, through hypnotherapy
• Stress management from the inside out
• Finding support in online groups and forums
• Elizabeth’s tips for time management:
• • Schedule your day for self-care
  • Know your own energy and patterns

Resources:

Insight Timer Meditation App

www.drlizhypnosis.com

My guest today is Heather Sontag, who created the company called Serene Space. She goes into people’s homes to help them organize spaces, de-clutter, and manage their time. Her work goes beyond the simple organizing of STUFF, though, because she helps people from the inside out as they find their life’s purpose and organize their LIVES. Great tips are oozing from this conversation, so join us!

What you’ll hear in this episode:

• As a mom of two and a business owner, Heather works hard to help other busy moms
• How to de-clutter and improve your time management
• Getting your kids involved
• Tips for organizing kids’ chores to foster independence
• Connecting with your own inner guidance
• Exercises to connect with positive body emotions
• “Better it, bag it, or barter it”---advice from Martha Beck
• Common struggles for women that they don’t even realize!
• How to care and nurture yourself in little ways
• Daily, weekly, and monthly mindfulness
• How being grounded leads to better decisions
• Why we all need “re-do’s”
• Clear boundaries and priorities
• Learn when to say YES and NO
• Empowerment from being selective about saying YES
• Letting things go

Resources:

www.ssorganize.com (Find Heather’s blog, newsletter, and information about classes!)

Upcoming Events:

Envision and Empower Your Ideal Life- January 18th

Beyond Motherhood, quarterly call- February 2nd

Join Dr. Robbin Rockett, a psychologist, consultant and host of Solo Parent Life, on the last episode of the show for 2016. 

Solo Parent Life currently has more than twelve hundred listeners from all over the world! In this fourteenth episode, she reflects on the recent holiday weekend and honestly shares about her current life situation and her intentions for the coming year.

Listen in as Robbin talks about:

• The unnecessary pressure she puts on herself and how she deals with it.
• The importance of being mindful and taking time out when the family is together.
• How you don't have to do it all and it will still be good enough - it's not about being perfect.
• That being mindful allows you to relax.
• How being real and honest can take the pressure off.
• Her gratitude for having started Solo Parent Life and how it's growing.
• Some upcoming podcasts in this series, featuring charismatic Nick Bender, a single dad, Dr. Melanie Greenberg, a psychologist who has written a book called 'The Stress Proof Brain' and Heather Sontag who organizes homes and offers workshops to help mothers deal with stress and anxiety.
• Her goals for 2017.
• How you can reach out to her and offer her feedback on the kind of topics that will benefit you on her show in 2017.
• Questions that you may have that she can answer in a Q&A episode in 2017.
• Some things she's learned through doing Solo Parent Life podcasts this past year, that she intends carrying forward into the new year.

Links: 

Robbin's website: http://southernmarinpsychology.com/solo-parent-life-podcast/

 To ask questions or leave feedback, go to: www.bit.ly\soloparentlife14

Today’s guest is Lorraine Platt. She and her husband co-own Teen Solutions and they focus on lots of different issues that teenagers deal with. Admittedly, Lorraine started out being afraid of teenagers, but the more she worked with them, the more she fell in love with them. Lorraine and her husband focus on mentoring services for teens, which is so needed as teens are growing up in these challenging times.

Listen to this episode as Lorraine also discusses:

• Why same-sex mentoring is so important
• The issues that can be uncovered when teens are free to talk openly about anything
• How social media is pressuring teens today
• A parents job is to raise and launch their children. Find out what that means!
• Why it’s important to take an interest in who your teenager is
• Phone use and boundaries plays a big role in developing relationships with your teen
• Does your teen want to spend time with you, even when they act like they don’t?
• Dad’s have some advantages as a single parent that Moms don’t have
• Teenagers are under the pressure of perfection, so we have to counteract that as parents
• Encouraging your teen to express themselves as who they want to be to the world

Connect with Lorraine:

www.teensolutionstherapy.com

My guest today is Suzan Aiken, a family law attorney who works with families going through divorce. She raised her son as a single mother and then helped raise three stepchildren in her blended family.  Suzan helps families get through divorce in a respectful and healthy way, through collaborative divorce. Join us to learn more about this low conflict way to divorce!

What you’ll hear in this episode:

• How collaborative divorce is different as a conflict-resolution process
• When both parties agree NOT to go to court
• The team effort
• How mediation factors into collaborative divorce
• The holistic picture
• The language around collaborative divorce
• Parenting plans that are customized for each family
• When collaborative divorce WON’T work
• Feeling “heard” in the divorce process
• Working with couples on prenuptial agreements with a different approach
• Regrouping and revisiting prior arrangements
• Suzan’s tips:
• • Separate your emotions from the legal system
  • Arrive at a resolution with positive, constructive efforts
  • Take a holistic look at the big picture
• Suzan’s recent appointment as president of the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals, active in 20 countries and multiple languages

Resources:

www.aiken-sinaiko.com