When Parenting Plans Meet Reality: Preparing for Inevitable Disruptions

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Parenting inevitably involves handling unexpected interruptions and distractions, from financial emergencies to childhood illnesses. Being prepared with both financial strategies and practical supplies can transform these challenging moments from stressful crises into manageable situations.

• Save tax refunds and windfalls in high-yield savings accounts for emergencies
• Consider thrift shops and consignment stores for children's clothing
• Don't be ashamed to accept hand-me-downs from friends or family
• Keep essential medical supplies on hand (Tylenol, Neosporin, cough syrup, thermometer)
• Remember that preparing for interruptions reduces stress when they occur
• Focus on being a good parent who teaches, not a perfect parent
• Always be learning alongside your children
• Set aside time without phone distractions to connect with your child

Put that phone down for one hour and spend quality time with your child. Write down one thing you want to be better at as a parent and commit to making that improvement.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey ladies, welcome to the Single Moms United
podcast.
If this is your first timejoining, welcome If you are a
repeat listener.
Thank you, thank you and thankyou, thank you for your repeat
loyalty.
Hey, what am I talking abouttoday?

(00:21):
So I'm getting back on trackwith talking about the letter I
and extracting word choices fromthe letter I, and if you've
been following me, you know I'vebeen pulling out different
words and everything andhopefully you found some value
in that content that I sharedwith you because I'm getting

(00:42):
ready to deliver another episodearound the letter I.
When it comes to parenting,today's word choice is
interruption or distraction.
Yeah, that's right, mom, youalready know that there are
going to be distractions to yourpurpose in parenting.

(01:05):
How do I know?
Yeah, as a single mom myself, Iknow what those distractions or
those interruptions feel like.
You feel all good and happy,like, oh, I got it going on,
things are working in my favor,and then boom, ba-boom, bam, bam
.
Oh, my gosh, where did thisbill come from?

(01:26):
You need what for when and howmuch, because that's how it
works when you have children,and especially for me.
My finances were just crazy.
If I knew then what I know nowas it relates to handling those

(01:48):
interruptions that come, orthose distractions.
I promise you my life wouldhave been a lot easier, but I
brought it on myself.
So I have to take ownership ofthat right, because we are all
in position to learn right and,moms, you are even in a better

(02:09):
position than I was to learn howto better manage your finances.
I didn't know any better backthen, so I was just feeling
around in the dark, hopefullyhoping I'd find a nut.
Right, a blind squirrel findinga nut when it comes to finances
.
That's one of the distractionsor interruptions you're going to

(02:33):
encounter are the unexpectedexpenses and not to mention
illness.
Right, child is good, healthyOne day.
Next thing you know they'resneezing and coughing.
Mommy, I don't feel good, mystomach hurt, I don't want to go
to school.
Da, da, da, da da.
You probably heard the routineright, and that's okay.

(02:54):
So this episode is all about yougetting in position for those
distractions, so it doesn'tstress you out.
Right?
If someone were to tell youthat the forecast tomorrow was
rain, you would prepare for rain.
You would pick differentclothes to wear.

(03:17):
You would probably take anumbrella, at least a raincoat,
or wear a hat or somethingbecause it's going to rain.
This is the same thing.
You're going to have unexpectedfinancial issues, that's just a
fact.
So we're going to talk a littlebit about that.
We're going to talk about thewhole health and wellness piece

(03:38):
of it as well, so you can be inbetter position to handle these
interruptions when they come,not if.
When they come.
How do I know?
I promise you been there, donethat.
So I'm trying to pay it forward, mom, so you can understand

(04:00):
what it means to be prepared forthese, so you don't have to go
through undue stress and I meanit is stressful, right, all
right.
So first of all, you have tohave a plan, mom.
As I mentioned before, you haveto have a plan on how to handle

(04:21):
these interruptions.
I'm not going to go througheverything this is not a one
size fits all of what theinterruptions look like but at
least you know two major onesthat you have to consider that
you will go through when itcomes to money.
When it comes to money and I'mprobably two minutes too late on

(04:42):
this one, but if you've heardprior episodes, then you've
heard me talk about when you getthat income tax check or you
got a little extra money comingin.
You put that in a separateaccount, you store that away for
that rainy day, for thatunexpected expense.
Why is that important?

(05:04):
Because now you don't have togo and call on whoever, I'll
just put it like that.
You don't have to go and asksomebody for a couple extra
dollars until next week you have, you're borrowing from yourself
.
I am so guilty of this when mykids were younger and I was able

(05:25):
to claim them and so forth, soI would get a nice tax return.
And so, as a result of that, Iwas out like, as soon as I got
that money, ding, ding, ding,shada, la, la, la, la la.
I'm out running the race,running the streets and buying
stuff.
And, oh my God, I'm so tired ofbeing broke.

(05:45):
I got a few extra dollars andda, da, da, da da, buying stuff
I did not need.
But and then, when it came downto rent and paying the light
bill, gas for the car, the carnote and all these other things
that are required or necessity,and the kids' school fees and

(06:10):
outfits that I had to buy themfor whatever occasion, then I'm
looking like okay, how am Igoing to pay this?
Uh-oh, I spent all of my incometax money.
So, moms, if you haven't spentall of your income tax money,
put it in a high yieldingsavings account and don't touch

(06:33):
it unless you absolutely have to.
It's just that simple.
Let it sit there and grow andthen only buy what you need.
And speaking of buying, I usedto shop at thrift shops and I'm
throwing this out there becauseour kids grow very fast out

(07:01):
there, because our kids growvery fast.
One day they're and I'll goeven back to the toddler years
of two toddler and then the nextday or next week they in a 16
or whatever.
I don't know what the sizes arethese days, but they grow so
quick because they always eating, always eating and drinking.
As a result of that, they grow.
So you might want to consider athrift shop and what I would

(07:25):
recommend is you take some ofthem old clothes, take them in,
and some people call this aconsignment shop.
Either way, utilize it.
Assignment shop, either way,utilize it.
Your kids don't need brand newclothes because they're not
going to stay in them long andwhen they do get in them, they

(07:45):
rip them up, they get dirt andall of this other stuff all over
them.
It doesn't make sense to buynew clothes.
So you buy something that stilllooks good.
I did.
Yes, I sure did go to thethrift shop.
I bought shirts for $1.99.
I sure did.
And all that I didn't buy atthe thrift shop people gave me.

(08:09):
Especially when it came to mydaughter, I got really lucky
because my sister had my niece,so nine months before I had my
daughter.
So guess what?
That's right.
I got a lot of her clothes.
And then a good friend of mine,her daughter, was about a year
older than my daughter as well,so I got a lot of her clothes as

(08:31):
well.
Don't be ashamed to accepthand-me-downs.
I even wore hand-me-downs whenI was growing up.
Yeah, didn't understand it.
Some stuff didn't fit right.
I wore.
That Came from a humblebeginning and there's nothing
wrong with that.
Remember, it's not about how youarrived at the title, but what

(08:56):
you do with it, and the biggestpart of parenting that you have
to consider is managing yourfinances.
The second piece is health yourkids.
As I mentioned before earlieron in this episode, your kids
are going to get sick or they'regoing to fall down, scrape

(09:18):
their knees something's going tohappen.
They're going to get a headache, something.
These things are going tohappen, I promise you.
So how do you prepare for that?
Well, number one you willdefinitely want to keep Tylenol
on hand.
You definitely want to get someNeosporin Keep that on hand.
Cough syrup you want to keepthat Neosporin, keep that on
hand.
Cough syrup, you want to keepthat on hand.

(09:39):
And maybe some cough drop.
You maybe need a thermometer.
Take their temperature, just incase you have to do a call with
the doctor over the phone totalk about symptoms and things
like that.
But you prepare for it becauseit's going to happen.
And when you have these thingsin your home already.

(10:06):
So when little Johnny comethrough coughing, sneezing I'm
sick, mommy you already ready togo.
Same thing with little Ruthie.
I ain't leave her out.
You ready to go when she comeshome and I don't feel good,
right, and it's okay.
So, mom, get in position tohandle these interruptions,

(10:28):
these distractions that aregoing to happen.
Now, I just named a couple, butI'm sure you can name any more
distractions or interruptionsthat will happen as a parent,
and then not only think aboutothers.
But how do you respond to that?

(10:48):
Because we don't have time forstress.
We got other things going on.
So, mom, you can do this.
Mm-hmm, that's right.
All right, ladies, I hope youenjoyed this episode and if you
did tell another single mom, Ihope I left you with something
to think about, with yourparenting skills and I get, this

(11:10):
is not a one size fits all, buta one size fits most and
hopefully invite that criticalthinking.
When it comes to parenting andagain, you're probably going to
hear this on every episode goingforward there is no perfect
parent.

(11:30):
There's only good parents andbad parents.
Good mom, bad mom, a good momteaches.
That's right.
Always be learning mom, and I'mhoping that you're taking this
opportunity to learn somethingnew as it relates to teaching
your child.
If it's nothing but buying alittle $2 plant and learning how

(11:54):
to water it and getting itsunlight, that's something
you're learning and it's simple.
We always make things so hardat times and it doesn't have to
be.
Some of this is really simple.
Okay, let me go buy this littleplant, let me and little Ruthie
try to put it, to help it growa little bit, put it in the sun,

(12:18):
feed it, does it requireanything special?
And you can do that togetherand then determine when to get a
new pot and what type ofpotting soil.
That's some fun stuff that youcan do together.
Moms, yeah, always be learningand you never know, as a result

(12:40):
of you taking this initiative,where this can lead for little
Ruthie later on in her career.
You just don't know, becauseshe can always look back and say
well, my mom did this and mymom taught me that.
What a compliment, what acompliment the greatest ever

(13:01):
when your child comes back andsays I learned this from my mom
and it's something positive, andthat they're paying it forward.
That's what you want at the endof the day.
That's what you want.
That's the type of behavior wewant our children to display at
the end of life that we did thebest that we could as it relates

(13:24):
to raising our children.
Again, we're not looking forperfection, just a good mom
displaying good values, goodbehaviors and ultimately
teaching our children how toexcel in life, understanding
what disappointment means,understanding they are going to

(13:47):
experience disappointment.
That's our job, that's our roleto educate them.
All right, ladies, I'm reallydone this time.
You all have a fantastic dayand if you haven't put that
phone down for one hour andspend time with your child, I
encourage you to do that.
My child deserves this andreally stand up to the plate and

(14:12):
try to do better and reallyjust write down one thing you
want to be better at.
Just think about that, mom.
Everybody's situation isdifferent, but think about that.
Yeah, All right, you all have afantastic day, a wonderful week
and a marvelous month.
Take care.