Lots of good advice on this thread ! I'm also bringing up a teenage daughter on my own and have been sitting here nodding my head constantly as I read all these situations and ways to deal with them. To all the good advice given here, I would add that it's so important to remember, in the thick of it all, that TIME PASSES, and it passes remarkably quickly.

This time last year, I was very much in the situation the originator of this thread was in. I don't know how old the daughter in question is, but (at a hunch) probably around 14 ? I've seen remarkable positive changes in outlook happening as my daughter has moved through this past year to be coming up to 16. I always noticed the same in the girls I taught. Years 9 and 10 are the most challenging - for parents, for teachers, and most importantly for the girls themselves. Add into the hormonal melting pot mum's own likely hormonal upheavals, being "of a certain age", plus maybe the odd demanding elderly parent or two, bills to pay, work that must be sought and a job that must be kept..... and "Hubble bubble, toil and trouble" just barely meets the description !

Do talk to as many people as you can. Find someone in the same boat who you can have a good laugh with.

Schools *can* be a bit slow on the uptake if you tell them about a problem situation, but generally I would say that if you keep reminding them, they will be extremely helpful.

The most awful thing, I think, about being a single parent (also applies to being the only child of an elderly parent)is the unfounded guilt, and the ongoing realization that the guilt *is* unfounded. If you are feeling guilty, you are a ripe target for being manipulated. It's something I find I have to keep working on, over and over, but it does get easier. As people here have said, it is crucial that you do something, however small, that is just for *you*. Otherwise, *you* disappear.

Talking to and laughing with kindred spirits is some of the best medicine. Original Guest: do PM me if you'd like to.

All good wishes,
- jeanie (seeing more light at the end of the tunnel than this time last year.... :)