Rex
Last week I asked my son a question which I probably shouldn't have, but as there is no one else in our household to ask things, I had no choice.
It made me think of all the other things I do, or allow him to do, or that he is privy to ONLY because I am a single parent.
These include:
Letting him stay up late when I am bored (instead of being desperate to get him to bed for me/partner time).
Eating his left-overs instead of cooking myself dinner (because I don't want to eat at five and I have no one else to cook for).
Taking him to the pub for a (veggie!) Sunday roast because I am too knackered to cook one myself (because by the time Sunday rolls round I am dead on my feet).
Making him watch Country House Rescue and other property porn (so I have someone to have the 'what we would do if we had a house like that' conversation with).
Taking him for cycle rides over the common and planting lots of 'thirsty' auto-suggestions in his mind just so I can stop off at the pub (a rare treat with little child-care).
Getting him to brush my hair when I am tired and head achy (because it is relaxing, and frankly, after enduring his non-stop chatter-inducing migraines about computer games/Club Penguin/Dr Who he owes me).
Dressing up my errors/lack or organisation/plain wrongness as Fun New Thing. It's Cake for Breakfast Day! Let's celebrate by er, having cake for breakfast! (because mummy has run out of porridge/Weetabix/bread again).
Ah, us single parents and our lax parenting methods, non-enforcement of rules and discipline... It's no wonder we all have feral kids, eh?
And that question I asked him that perhaps I really shouldn't have? It was: "Does my bum look big in this?" It was either that or text a pic to one of my friends and they'd prob be too honest. Son merely looked surprised and said 'No'.
It could have been that I had already earned 'be nice to mummy' points by declaring that morning a Cake for Breakfast Day though...
(Small disclaimer: I also talk to him endlessly. About everything. The weather. The shopping list. What to have for dinner. Where to go on holiday. What to plant in the garden. What to buy for the house. I am certain we communicate MUCH more than his two-parent-household peers. And I know we didn't chat nearly as much when his father lived here. And no, he's not really feral. And MOST mornings he has porridge for breakfast. With fruit.)
What to you allow/turn a blind eye to as a single parent that you wouldn't you were part of a couple?