Single Parent Going on A Date? Hope You Don't Mind the Carseat!

How do single parents go on a date? Boy, is that a loaded question! Well, it is a lot different than how plain single folks go on a date. Let’s compare.

Single People:

Look at movie listings, pick one, drive to theater, enjoy.

Single Parents:

Oh yeah- Isn’t this the truth?

1.

Check movie listings over the internet

2.

Confirm with date by phone

3.

Confirm with sitter that times work for her

4.

Call date back to give the green light

5.

Determine how many children will be there and how many will be with Dad, if any

6.

Clean kitchen

7.

Strip peed-on sheets, toss in washer and scramble for fresh sheets

8.

Make dinner. One they will eat.

9.

Cover dinner with plates to keep warm, remember to do makeup

10.

Locate makeup bag in remote corner of car

11.

Put out movies for kids and new grown-up ones for babysitter

12.

Get dressed

13.

Set up tent and pillows in living room

14.

Burn fingers on George Foreman grill while making mango sausages

15.

Stand with fingers under running cold water while sausages cook, notice almost-gone bottle of Pinot Noir, pour glass, kill time watching the water flow over throbbing fingers

16.

Dry hair, finish makeup

17.

Assure babysitter that the kids will stop spitting at each other soon

18.

Jump into filthy car

19.

Hope to make it on time

20.

Check mirror, gasp in horror at hair

21.

Enjoy

About Mindy

Mindy Roberts is a native Chicagoan transplanted to the Silicon Valley where she lives with her three California-born children. Through a series of well-laid plans, strategic decisions, unfortunate mishaps, and wacky mistakes, she has cobbled together a cozy life for her young family.

Mindy spent twelve years as a mild-mannered nonprofit employee. In 2002, after the birth of her third child in four years, Mindy began to write about her life and children in the wee, sleepless hours. Mommy Confidential is a chronicle of her family’s adventures and mishaps in a period of marital, emotional, and financial strife. No, really.

Take a woman fresh out of college, plop her down in Silicon Valley, saddle her with a mortgage, let her ride the tech boom, give her three babies in four years, slap her with the tech bust, watch vicariously as her marriage disintegrates, end her career, and hand her a computer. What do you get? Mommy Confidential, a memoir in real time.