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This week we're discussing Now What? Rebuilding a Life Plan. At some point in the solo parenting journey, survival mode starts to loosen its grip just enough to ask a bigger question: what do I actually want to build from here? Getting to that question and knowing how to answer it is harder than it sounds when every decision lands on you and the old rulebook no longer applies. Robert Beeson, Founder and CEO of Solo Parent, sits down with Elizabeth Cole, single parent, and Marissa Lee, author and single parent, to talk honestly about what it takes to move forward with intention when the path isn't clear yet. All three have lived this, and what they bring to the conversation is grounded, practical, and real.   Key Insights from This Episode: Acceptance comes before a new plan - You can't build something new until you've told the truth about where you actually are. Slow down before making big moves - Decisions made in the middle of overwhelm deserve a buffer before you act on them. This season is real life, not a waiting room - The life you're living right now counts, and claiming it changes everything.   Resources Mentioned in This Episode: Becoming Mom and Dad: How God Fathers Through Single Mothers by Marissa Lee The 4 Tasks of Mourning Chip Dodd   Stay Connected + Get Support: This podcast is made possible by members of The Table at Solo Parent. If this episode encouraged you, we'd love for you to join The Table by giving a recurring gift to keep these conversations going for the next single parent who needs them.   Download our Solo Parent App Join a Solo Parent Group Learn more about Solo Parent Follow us on Instagram

This week we're discussing The Self-Care You Actually Need. If someone asked you right now what you value most, could you answer? Not what you're supposed to say, not what made sense in a different season of life but what actually drives you today. Most solo parents, if they're honest, would pause. Not because they don't care, but because survival mode has a way of burying that question under everything else that needs to get done. Robert Beeson, Founder and CEO of Solo Parent, sits down with Elizabeth Cole, single parent, and Amber Fuller, a counselor with a Master's in Marriage and Family Therapy and single parent, to talk about what values-guided self-care actually looks like in the real, messy, full life of a solo parent. Together they unpack why so many of us don't know what we value anymore, how to start finding out, and why the answer is closer than you think. Key Insights from This Episode: Knowing your values is the foundation of self-care that actually works - when self-care isn't rooted in what genuinely matters to you, it just becomes one more thing to manage. Your values don't have to be figured out all at once -  they unfold - where you are emotionally shapes what your values look like right now, and that's allowed to change. What you keep returning to, even under pressure, is your truest guide - your values are already showing up in your life; the work is learning to notice them. Resources Mentioned in This Episode: Value Cards Adriana Girdler, Core Values Framework Stay Connected + Get Support: This podcast is made possible by members of The Table at Solo Parent. If this episode encouraged you, we'd love for you to join The Table by giving a recurring gift to keep these conversations going for the next single parent who needs them.   Download our Solo Parent App Join a Solo Parent Group Learn more about Solo Parent Follow us on Instagram

This week we're discussing Self-Care When You Have No Margin. You know that feeling when someone suggests you take better care of yourself and your first reaction is a laugh? Not because it's funny, but because the suggestion feels completely disconnected from the day you're actually living. You already know you need it. You've thought about what it could look like, the morning routine, the workout, the quiet moment that doesn't get hijacked by something else. The knowing has never been the problem. The gap between knowing and actually pulling it off is what this conversation is about. Robert Beeson, Founder & CEO of Solo Parent, co-host Elizabeth Cole, a single parent, and contributor Amber Fuller, a counselor with a Master's in Marriage and Family Therapy and single parent, get honest about what self-care actually looks like when the margin is gone. Not the aspirational version. The real one, shaped around guilt and perfectionism and the particular exhaustion of being the only adult on call. Between the three of them, they've lived every version of this, and what they bring to this conversation is practical, grounded, and genuinely useful. Key Insights from This Episode: Both relief and restoration have a place, and telling them apart is what makes self-care actually work. One quiets the noise, the other fills you back up, and knowing which one you need changes everything about how you take care of yourself. Self-care is personal, and the best version of it is the one that actually works for your life. There is no universal prescription, and giving yourself permission to define it on your own terms is half the battle. Stillness is not passive, it is one of the most active and necessary things you can choose. Whether it looks like quiet, movement, laughter, or a good cry on the couch, getting still is where a lot of the real restoration happens. Resources Mentioned in This Episode: 40 Practical Ideas for Self-Care Stay Connected + Get Support: This podcast is made possible by members of The Table at Solo Parent. If this episode encouraged you, we'd love for you to join The Table by giving a recurring gift to keep these conversations going for the next single parent who needs them.   Download our Solo Parent App Join a Solo Parent Group Learn more about Solo Parent Follow us on Instagram

This week we're discussing Becoming a Resilient Parent. Parenting was never meant to be a static skill. Your kid keeps changing, and that means you have to keep changing with them. From the toddler years to the teenage ones, every stage asks something different of you, and as a solo parent, you're the one who has to figure out what that is without another adult in the house to help you read the room. The fear of getting it wrong is real. So is the guilt of feeling like you're always one step behind. Robert Beeson, Founder & CEO of Solo Parent, sits down with Elizabeth Cole, single parent, and Amber Fuller, a counselor with a Master's in Marriage and Family Therapy (MMFT) and single parent, for an honest conversation about what it actually looks like to grow alongside your kids when every new season catches you off guard. Together they talk through why isolation makes hard seasons harder, how fear quietly drives more of our parenting decisions than we realize, and why self-compassion isn't a luxury but the actual foundation of resilience. Key Insights from This Episode: Resilience is built through open systems, not closed ones - when the only voice you're hearing is the one in your head telling you you're failing, it will keep saying that until something from outside interrupts it. Fear-driven parenting keeps both you and your kids in a box - the love-soaked, protective kind of fear can quietly close off the very relationship you're trying to protect. Self-compassion isn't optional, it's the foundation - if you're running on empty, you don't have the resources to show up for your kids the way you want to. Resources Mentioned in This Episode: Kristin Neff, researcher and author on self-compassion and resilience Dr. Dan Siegel, prior podcast guest known for his work on curiosity, connection, and child development Stay Connected + Get Support: Download our Solo Parent App Join a Solo Parent Group Learn more about Solo Parent Follow us on Instagram

This week we're discussing When Money Problems Keep Knocking You Down. You did everything right this month. You tracked the spending, made the calls, kept the budget as tight as you could. And then something broke. Or a bill arrived that wasn't supposed to. Or the end of the month showed up before the money did. You're tired in a way that's hard to explain to someone who hasn't lived it, but you're not alone in it and you're not failing as a parent. What makes financial stress so relentless for solo parents isn't just the gap between income and expenses. It's that every unexpected hit lands on one set of shoulders. There's no one to split the worry with, no backup plan walking through the door. And over time, that pressure has a way of becoming something more than financial. It starts to feel like a verdict. Robert Beeson, Founder & CEO of Solo Parent, sits down with Elizabeth Cole, a single parent, and Amber Fuller, a counselor with a Master's in Marriage and Family Therapy (MMFT) and single parent, for an honest conversation about what it actually looks like to keep going when the financial ground keeps shifting. All three have lived it, and they bring that experience into a conversation that is equal parts real and hopeful. Key Insights from This Episode: Financial stress is as much an emotional wound as a practical problem -  the feeling of not having enough doesn't just hit your bank account, it hits your sense of self, and understanding that is where resilience starts. Shifting from victim mindset to agency is the beginning of real resilience -  moving from "why does this keep happening to me" to "what can I actually do" is the pivot that changes everything. Reframing hardship as a season, not a sentence, changes what's possible -  the hard chapter you're in right now is not the one that defines how the story ends. Resources Mentioned in This Episode: Previous Solo Parent Podcast: From Panic to Plan: Thriving as a Solo Parent on a Budget  Stay Connected + Get Support: Download our Solo Parent App Join a Solo Parent Group Learn more about Solo Parent Follow us on Instagram

This week we're discussing Burnout: The Cost of Always Being Strong. Most single parents are not looking for a pep talk. They are looking for someone who gets it. Being the only adult in the house means the weight never really lifts. Every decision, every emergency, every moment that would be easier with a partner lands on one person. And at some point, being called strong stops feeling like a compliment and starts feeling like everyone's way of saying they are not going to help. Robert Beeson, Founder and CEO of Solo Parent, sits down with Elizabeth Cole, single parent, and Amber Fuller, a counselor with a Master's in Marriage and Family Therapy (MMFT) and single parent, to talk honestly about burnout, what feeds it, and what research and real experience say actually helps. Key Insights from This Episode: Burnout for single parents is not ordinary exhaustion. It is an invisible weight. The kind that shows up in your body, your relationships, and your parenting long before you have a name for it. Resilience is a skill built through connection, not a trait you either have or you don't. From doing a drain audit to changing the stories you tell yourself, there are practical ways to start building it today. Hope is one of the most powerful predictors of how long you can keep going. Not wishful thinking, but a grounded belief that things can get better, and that belief changes everything. Resources Mentioned in This Episode: Roadmap to Resilience by Donald Meichenbaum Ann Masten's research on resilience Stay Connected + Get Support: Download our Solo Parent App Join a Solo Parent Group Learn more about Solo Parent Follow us on Instagram

This week we're discussing Redefining Resilience. You've done the math on resilience before, probably without realizing it. Measured yourself against some invisible standard of bouncing back, keeping it together, adjusting easily. And somewhere in the gap between that standard and your actual day, you quietly wondered if you were falling short. The truth is the definition most of us inherited doesn't account for what solo parenting actually demands, and this week's conversation is about replacing it with one that does. Robert Beeson, Founder & CEO of Solo Parent, Elizabeth Cole, single parent, and Amber Fuller, a counselor with a Master's in Marriage and Family Therapy (MMFT) and single parent, bring their own lived experience to a topic that touches every solo parent at some point. Together they unpack why the traditional idea of resilience can leave you feeling worse instead of better, and what a more honest, workable version of it actually looks like in the middle of a regular week. Key Insights from This Episode: Resilience isn't about bouncing back; it's about continuing to show up - Getting your feet on the floor, making it through the day, and showing up for your kids counts as resilience even when it doesn't feel like it. Survival mode is not a personal failure; it's a season - Naming where you are honestly is not defeat, it's the starting point for real progress. Measure progress, not outcomes - Comparing your everyday to someone else's highlight reel will always leave you feeling behind; what moves the needle is tracking whether you're moving in a direction. Stay Connected + Get Support: Download our Solo Parent App Join a Solo Parent Group Learn more about Solo Parent Follow us on Instagram

This week we're discussing Courage to Let Your Kids See You Struggle. Somewhere along the way, most solo parents develop a kind of silent rule: handle the hard things before you walk into the room. Clean up before they see you. Keep your voice steady even when your heart isn't. It comes from love. But it also comes from fear, and it's worth asking whether the wall you've built to protect them might also be keeping them from something they really need. Robert Beeson, Founder & CEO of Solo Parent, Elizabeth Cole, single parent, and Amber Fuller, a counselor with a Master's in Marriage and Family Therapy (MMFT) and single parent, take a close and honest look at something every solo parent wrestles with: how much of your struggle do you actually let your kids see? They get practical, they get real, and they name the difference between protecting your kids and isolating them from a version of you that could actually draw you closer. Key Insights from this episode: Struggle is something you can model, not just survive - Kids learn resilience by watching adults navigate hard things, not by watching them perform composure. The space between hiding and dumping is where real connection lives - Honest, age-appropriate moments, done without making your kids responsible for what you're carrying, teach them how to handle hard things too. Vulnerability, done with intention, builds the trust that nothing else can - When you let them in a little, they let you in too, and that mutual trust becomes the foundation of a relationship that holds. Stay Connected + Get Support: Download our Solo Parent App Join a Solo Parent Group Learn more about Solo Parent Follow us on Instagram

This week we're discussing Courage to Ask for Help. Asking for help is something most solo parents will tell you they're working on, and almost none of them will tell you they've figured out. It's not just pride, though that's part of it. It's the fear of being a burden, the mental math of what you might owe someone, the exhaustion of having to explain your situation one more time, and the quiet identity that gets built around being the one who handles everything. This episode goes right at that tension and hopefully stays there long enough for something to shift. Robert Beeson, Founder and CEO of Solo Parent, Elizabeth Cole, a single parent, and Amber Fuller, a counselor with a Master's in Marriage and Family Therapy and single parent, bring their own stories to this conversation. None of them have this perfectly figured out either, which is exactly what makes it worth listening to. Key Insights from this episode: Refusing help has a hidden cost that shows up in your kids. The stress of carrying everything alone doesn't stay contained to you. It moves through you and lands on the moments and the people closest to you. Accepting help is an act of honor, not weakness. When you say yes to someone who wants to help, you're telling them their generosity matters and their presence in your life counts. Building the muscle starts with a list and a yes. Identify what you can offload, write down five people you trust, and practice saying yes, thank you without the explanation attached. Resources Mentioned in this episode: Brené Brown reference on shame and vulnerability Stay Connected + Get Support: Download our Solo Parent App Join a Solo Parent Group Learn more about Solo Parent Follow us on Instagram

This week we're discussing Courage to Set a Boundary: Most solo parents aren't avoiding boundaries because they don't care. They're avoiding them because the relationships that need the boundaries are also the ones they depend on most. The co-parent they need to cooperate with. The family member their kid loves. The boss they can't afford to lose. And so the line goes undrawn, the cost gets absorbed, and somewhere along the way you stop noticing how much it's taking from you. Robert Beeson, Founder & CEO of Solo Parent, sits down with Elizabeth Cole, single parent, and Marissa Lee, author and single parent, and each of them brings a real situation to the table. Not a theoretical one. Elizabeth's summer this year was derailed by a boundary she didn't set early enough. Marissa learned the hard way what years of staying silent actually costs. Robert found out that shutting everyone out isn't the same thing as having boundaries. What comes out of it is practical, honest, and closer to home than most of us would like to admit. Key Insights from This Episode: Setting boundaries starts with two honest questions: What do I feel, and what do I need? These two questions cut through the noise and give you the language for what a boundary actually needs to look like — not in theory, but in the specific situation in front of you. Fear and wisdom can lead to the same action, but only one of them will hold. A boundary set from panic or exhaustion tends to swing to extremes. One set from an honest assessment of what you're protecting tends to stick. Knowing which one you're operating from changes everything. Courage in boundary-setting doesn't always look like a hard conversation — sometimes it's a quiet internal decision. Especially in volatile co-parenting situations, the most powerful move is often the one nobody else sees. Deciding what you won't engage with, what you won't say, what you won't let go further. That's a boundary too. Resources Mentioned in This Episode: Chip Dodd, therapist and author Sissy Goff, counselor Marissa Lee, Becoming Mom and Dad: How God Fathers Through Single Mothers Stay Connected + Get Support: Download our Solo Parent App Join a Solo Parent Group Learn more about Solo Parent Follow us on Instagram

This week we're discussing Helping Our Kids Have Courage. Every solo parent has felt it — that pull to step in when your kid is struggling. Maybe they're nervous about something new, or stuck in a situation they don't know how to handle, and everything in you wants to smooth it over. It makes sense. Your kids have already been through more than you ever wanted for them, and the last thing you want is to pile on more difficulty. But there's a gap between protecting your kids and equipping them, and most of us don't realize how wide that gap has gotten until we look up one day and wonder why our kids struggle to handle the smallest uncomfortable moments on their own. Robert Beeson, Founder & CEO of Solo Parent, Elizabeth Cole, single parent, and Amber Fuller, a counselor with a Master's in Marriage and Family Therapy (MMFT) and single parent, get practical about what it actually takes to raise kids who can face hard things. The conversation is honest, relatable, and full of the kind of insight that makes you rethink some of your default parenting moves — not out of guilt, but out of genuine hope for what your kids are capable of. Key Insights from this episode: Struggle builds the muscles your kids need to handle real life — Repeatedly rescuing your kids from discomfort doesn't make them feel safer. Research shows it actually increases anxiety, quietly sending the message that hard things are too much for them. Being with your child in hard moments is different from doing it for them — Presence and rescue are not the same thing. Staying close while your child does something hard communicates trust in a way that stepping in never can. Courage is a practice, and you can build it into everyday family rhythms — From the question you ask at the end of the day to the small social risks you encourage at school, courage gets built in ordinary moments long before the big ones arrive. Stay Connected + Get Support: Download our Solo Parent App Join a Solo Parent Group Learn more about Solo Parent Follow us on Instagram

This week we're discussing Courage to Step Into the Unknown. Every solo parent knows what it's like to feel the weight of not knowing what comes next. Whether it's a financial decision you're unsure about, a parenting situation without a clear answer, or a future that looks nothing like you planned - uncertainty is one of the most constant companions in this season. And most of us, without realizing it, have developed ways of coping that feel responsible but quietly make things harder. Robert Beeson, Founder & CEO of Solo Parent, and Amber Fuller, a counselor with a Master's in Marriage and Family Therapy (MMFT) and single parent, get honest about the psychology behind why uncertainty feels so threatening - and what it actually looks like to face the unknown with steadiness instead of fear. The conversation is personal, grounded, and gives you something real to take into the week. Key Insights from This Episode: When Fear Is Driving, Even Good Instincts Can Work Against You - the two most common responses to uncertainty make complete sense, but they don't deliver the security we're looking for. Curiosity and Wonder Are the Path to Peace in the Unknown - loosening your grip isn't giving up; it's where peace actually lives. The Goal Is the Step, Not the Outcome - you don't need to see the whole path, just the next move forward. Stay Connected + Get Support: Download our Solo Parent App Join a Solo Parent Group Learn more about Solo Parent Follow us on Instagram

This week we're talking about, What to Do When Your Child Pushes Your Buttons. Your child says something that lands hard, or they shut down completely and the silence fills every corner of the house. You hold it together in the moment, but later, when everything is quiet, you replay it. You wonder if you handled it right. You wonder if the relationship is okay. And you do all of that alone, without anyone to help you sort through it. The hard truth is that solo parenting doesn't give you a timeout from the hardest parenting moments. There's no one to tap in, no one to debrief with, and no one to remind you that you're not failing just because your kid is furious with you right now. Robert Beeson, Founder and CEO of Solo Parent, and Elizabeth Cole, a single parent navigating this in real time, sit down with Amber Fuller, a counselor with a Master's in Marriage and Family Therapy and single parent, to talk through what's really happening when your child pushes back, and what it actually looks like to stay grounded, hold your position, and keep the relationship intact at the same time. Key Insights from This Episode: Your child's anger is often a signal, not an attack. When kids rage or shut down, they're usually communicating fear, loss, or a need for control they don't yet have words for. Staying emotionally regulated isn't about suppressing your feelings. It's about being the stable presence your child needs when their own emotions are running the show. Framing your child's pushback as a form of trust changes how you receive it. They push hardest at the people they believe won't leave. Resources Mentioned in This Episode: The Emotional Lives of Teenagers by Lisa Damour The Whole Brain Child by Dr. Dan Siegel Stay Connected + Get Support: Download our Solo Parent App Join a Solo Parent Group Learn more about Solo Parent Follow us on Instagram

This week we're discussing Why Do I Feel Like Damaged Goods? Most of us don't walk around calling ourselves damaged. But the belief shows up anyway. In the way you brace before getting close to someone. In the quiet assumption that what happened to you says something permanent about who you are. Whether it came from loss, from words spoken over you in a hard season, from a relationship that ended badly or one that never got to begin, the feeling has a way of becoming identity before you even realize it happened. Robert Beeson, Founder and CEO of Solo Parent, sits down with Elizabeth Cole, single parent and co-host, and Amber Fuller, a counselor with a Master's in Marriage and Family Therapy and single parent herself, for an honest conversation about why so many solo parents carry a private belief that they are somehow less than. Less worthy of connection. Less capable of being loved well. And what it actually looks like to start believing something different - not through willpower, but through the right people and the right environments. Key Insights from This Episode: The "damaged goods" feeling has company. Virtually every solo parent carries some version of this, and naming that out loud is the first thing that starts to shift it. The broken mirror wasn't you. The voices that told you something was wrong with you came from somewhere - and that source matters more than you think. Shame doesn't heal in isolation. Getting into environments where someone else says "me too" does something that self-help and positive thinking simply can't. Stay Connected + Get Support: Download our Solo Parent App Join a Solo Parent Group Learn more about Solo Parent Follow us on Instagram

This week we're discussing How to Build a Core Community. You know you need people. You've felt it, probably more in the last season of your life than ever before. But needing community and knowing how to build it are two very different things. It's easy to look around and feel like everyone else has their people figured out, while you're still trying to work out where you even fit. Whether you're starting over after loss or divorce, navigating an unplanned pregnancy, or simply realizing the friendships you had don't quite hold the shape of your life anymore, that ache of not having a solid crew around you is real. And it matters. Robert Beeson, Founder and CEO of Solo Parent, sits down with Elizabeth Cole, single parent, and Amber Fuller, a counselor with a Master's in Marriage and Family Therapy (MMFT) and single parent, to talk honestly about what it takes to build community that actually holds. No guest this week, just three people who've lived it, comparing notes on what worked, what didn't, and what they'd tell their earlier selves about finding the right people. Key Insights from This Episode: Build a patchwork of people, not a single lifeline. Spreading your needs across multiple relationships is what keeps community sustainable for everyone. When people pull away, it's usually discomfort, not cruelty. Most people don't know how to stay present in someone else's pain, and that's different from not caring. Giving is what turns a group of people into actual community. Showing up for others, even in small ways, is what creates the kind of belonging you're looking for. And if you want to keep the conversation going, Robert, Elizabeth, and Amber are going live on July 19th at 7:00 PM Central to tackle another big community question: can men and women really just be friends? Head to soloparent.org/safepeople to save your spot. Stay Connected + Get Support: Download our Solo Parent App Join a Solo Parent Group Learn more about Solo Parent Follow us on Instagram