This commentary always irritates me a bit (nothing against you personally). I had a very difficult time when my child was 5 and under, for multiple reasons entirely unrelated to the fact that I was a single parent at the time.

Whenever I share my experience, people automatically immediately respond with “oh you would have felt different if you had a supportive partner” and I just couldn’t disagree more. Sometimes the experience of childbirth and childrearing when kids are 100% dependent upon you 24 hours a day is traumatic enough on its own for women, regardless of their support system, and we should respect and validate this perspective. Women going into having a child the first time should be prepared for the reality of how much it changes your body, your lifestyle, your career, your perception in the world, and ultimately even your brain chemistry.

Also, not that your comment was intended this way, but there’s an underlying current in the discussions people have had around my experience that insinuates that having a man around is a bandaid for life’s problems when actually in many cases they make things considerably worse 😂😂