The Challenges of Christmas for Single Parents

Preparing for the Christmas season often involves considerable stress, but single parents face additional demands, making the holiday period particularly challenging. In Northern Ireland, approximately 92,000 lone parents are raising 150,000 children, which means nearly 25% of children reside in a single-parent household. Katrina Hughes, residing in Cookstown, County Tyrone, shared with BBC News NI her feeling of needing to divide herself to handle the numerous additional holiday tasks. “It’s so much stress; I feel like I need to be in 10 places at one time,” she said. She expressed experiencing heightened pressure and expectations to manage all aspects of the Christmas period, in addition to her role as a full-time working mother. The mother of one likened her daily routine to greyhound racing, specifically the moment dogs burst from their traps at the starting bell. “That is like my alarm going off every morning; I do not stop from the second I get up until I go to bed at night,” she said. “I feel at breaking point, and it is nearly unmanageable, but I have to make it work; I would not want my child missing out.” “I work full time to provide for my daughter, but times are tough to keep up with everything,” she said. “It is not just financial pressure; it is everything. I need to find time to attend school activities, take her to see Santa, Christmas shopping, and fit in time to visit close family.” Ms. Hughes mentioned that her efforts to create a perfect Christmas for her daughter, Rosalie, sometimes resulted in feelings of “guilty.” “Everyone can only do the best they can for their own child depending on their own personal circumstances,” she said. “I just want to normalise that being this chaotic in the lead up to Christmas is normal for everyone, and it’s OK to feel stress in the lead up to Christmas. I feel it every single day.” Gingerbread UK, an organization advocating for single-parent families, emphasized the importance of parents prioritizing their own well-being during the festive season, in addition to their children’s. “But this should be a chance for you to relax and enjoy yourself too,” the charity said. “You won’t be able to please everyone all the time. “There will probably be times when you need to put your foot down and decide what’s best.” The charity further noted that a key piece of advice from many parents was to avoid excessive self-pressure and to only undertake what they feel capable of. Copyright 2024 BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.