A Heart for Pickle’s

I wrote a post the other day about how horrible I am at Fatherhood. Being a daddy is not for me. I know nothing of the sorts about football and cars and tools. I’d rather sit inside and play quietly or read or do something equally as boring relaxing. This is much, much easier said than done when you have a rambunctious little boy running around the house. Especially when your son is a sports fanatic who is missing his daddy more and more every day.

As stressful as these past seemingly unending months have been, I am faced with the realization that my time as a single mother will soon be over. Come December my little life will go back to normal and my husband will be back home with us. I’ll have my best friend back and Little Man will have his daddy home to play football. And talk cars. And tools. And all of that other jazz that boys talk about and play.

Likewise, I’ve been faced with the same realization that for so, so, so many moms out there, the single life doesn’t end. It goes on day after day after day after day. In fact, 80% of Single Households are now being run by women. There are 12,905,000 one-parent families in the United States. 10,404,000 are headed by women; 2,501,000 are headed by men.

47% of women are on their own.
27% are single.
20% are divorced, separated or widowed.

These numbers break my heart. I’ve never had to worry with raising my son completely on my own. I don’t have to worry about getting a job, about paying my rent, about putting food on the table or clothes on his back. But some women do. And I admire them. I applaud them. And my heart breaks for them. I can not imagine what kind of strength and faith it takes to do something so profound by yourself.

So I have partnered with a beautiful and fantastic new company called Baby Pickel. They have a WONDERFUL project going on. They are created a way for all of us to help out these moms. These mothers who strive and long simply to care for their children. They have this amazing baby pickle jars that you can purchase that are full of baby goodies. These jars run a low $10 and you can purchase for a boy or a girl. Inside each jar is a pacifier, a onesie, a bib and a washcloth.

Aside from the baby jars, you can also make monetary donations or clothing donations. The wonderful ladies behind this beautiful project are always looking for help and volunteers. Are you interested in getting involved? Are you interested in becoming a part of this project? Please feel free to email me and I will be glad to pass your name and email address on to my Pickle Contact.  :)

This is something that has grown close to my heart really quickly. I could not imagine raising my son on my own. Without his daddy. With full parental responsibility on my shoulders. And I don’t pretend to know what these bold, brave women are feeling. Being a military wife is hard. And in its own way it is single parenting at times, but not the way that it could be. I have already made the choice that part of our Christmas Charities this year will go to this project and I’m planning to become even more involved over the coming months.