Being a parent is enough of a demanding and full-time job.But being a single parent is even more challenging and takes up even more of your time. Life is so hectic it reaches the stage where you begin to lose your identity and only think in terms of your children and their needs. But this isn’t healthy – everyone needs ‘me’ time in order to stay sane! Time to be alone and be peaceful, time for thinking space and time to selfishly consideryourself, removed from the family context. But with such a manic routine, how on earth do you prise even a few minutes of ‘me time’ out of your day? Here are a few pointers…

Find a reliable babysitter…

This is definitely the place to start: a local babysitter who gets on well with the kids, who you trust and who doesn’t mind being called out at short notice. This means that when you’re invited somewhere or want to go and see a play or whatever might come up you’ll be able to go without feeling guilty about abandoning the kids.

Find time while they’re sleeping…

Take advantage of the time when the house is quiet and your children have been tucked in for the night. This is a great time to invite friends over for a catch-up over a glass of wine, watch that French film you’ve been dying to see or scour some online dating London websites. Also, try to get up earlier in the morning so you have that little bit of headspace before the children wake up.

Let them have some time with the family…

Your family are probably always badgering you to let them see the children more often. Jump on the offer and make sure the kids see their family routinely – maybe even on a particular day of the week they could go and have dinner with their grandparents? Your family will be flattered by being given the responsibility of your kids and you’ll get a bit of time to yourself.

Take some days off…

Make sure you don’t take all of your holiday to coincide with the school holidays. Every once in a while, take a day of annual leave just for you. Then, do whatever you want with it – whether that’s going on a date or going on a road trip to see an estranged friend.

Make the most of your lunch hour…

Many people sit and work through lunch, despite being given a recommended hour. Try to get out of this habit and make the most of this time. Go for a walk and explore the neighbourhood of where you work. You’ll be thankful for the hour of quiet thinking time.

Establish a routine…

Work ‘me time’ into your regime. This could mean having a set night of the week for the family visit, for the babysitter to come over,or for the children’s other parent to take them for a bit so you can go out. Children are comfortable in the safe reliability of a routine, so make sure you work your ‘me time’ into everyday life.

Whether you use it to browse dating websites or catchup with friends, ‘me time’ is essential for everyone’s sanity and well-being. Make sure you find some!

The recent events around the world has, once again, reaffirm my belief that we are living on borrowed time here on earth and everything can be easily taken away from us. We keep ourselves so busy with other activities that sometimes, we sacrifice quality time that should be spent with our kids.

Even without all these threats of disasters and crisis, it must be every parent’s objective to really be able to bond with their children. Because, before you know it, the kids are all grown up and you would have missed the chance to get to know them.

Here are a few helpful points to spending quality time with your young ones especially when everything around you is buzzing with activity:

Take a special time in the day to just focus on one child each. Maybe during breakfast, you and the youngest can talk about what they’re expecting from their day over cereals. And then take after dinners as a time to sit and chat with the elder kids. Just focus on them, allow them to share what they wanna share, even if it’s as trivial as one kid crying in class. Make sure to keep this special times as regular as possible.

Have date nights or date weekends with each of your child. I know one parent who takes her eldest to the nail spa every 2nd Saturday of the week, while the other child has a date with his mother every fourth Saturday of the week. This way the kids will have something to look forward to. Keep this dates and appointments all the time.

Bonding with your children is really important even if you’re busy. Parents have to make time to get to know their kids.

What’s your special bonding ritual with your kids? And how often do you do this?

It’s October…true autumn at last. I have friends all over the country, and some of them are telling me “it’s so cold here!” while some are saying, “is it ever going to cool down?” Obviously the answer to that is, yes, of course. It will cool down, and for the most part, families will be driven back indoors by the chill in the air.

That’s too bad, because few things the earth offers us are so pleasant as cool autumn evenings. It would be lovely if we could spend every weekend in front of a campfire, snuggling together for warmth and eating marshmallows. I wish it worked that way. But even if it doesn’t, there are ways for a family to enjoy a cool fall night together.

One of the easiest and least expensive is simply to buy an outdoor heater. These are like space heaters, but the heat is more focused and less diffused. The ones I like, made by Outdora, are designed to warm up people and objects, like that patio chair you’re curled up in, and not just to warm the air in front of you—because let’s face it, on these lovely fall nights, that warm air will blow right way in the breeze, leaving your kids shivering.

It’s so great to be able to sit outside during my favorite time of year. I love the wind, the smell of burning leaves, and the feel of wearing several layers of clothes—but I hate being cold. And I cannot stand for my kids to be cold—I’m one of those moms that makes everyone put on a sweater when I get cold. It’s possible that my aversion to cold makes us miss a lot when it comes to beautiful fall days and evenings.

This is why I want one of these outdoor heaters. Outdora makes the kind that sits on the floor and warms from below, but it also has some really cool ones that look like standing lamps or table top lamps. You don’t even really know they’re heaters unless someone tells you, so they add to the beauty of the décor.

I’m sure I don’t have to say this, but I’d better, anyway…obviously you don’t want to leave small kids unattended with an outdoor heater or anything else that’s hot. If you have toddlers, you’re probably best off with one of the table top models. But whatever kind you get, think of all the good times you’re opening up for your family, just by making it warm enough to go outside together.

I confess, I am just not one of those concerned citizens who goes out of my way to save the earth or whatever.  I’m mostly just trying to take care of immediate things like day-to-day living.  When it comes to eco-friendly, if it’s easy, I’ll do it, and if it’s inconvenient, I just won’t. 

This is why it’s really good to have a site like Green Planet Parties around.  For a decent price–certainly no more than you’d pay buying all these elements separately–you can get cloth goodie bags and banners, biodegradable corn-based plastic cutlery, and even all-natural nail polish for girls’ parties. 

They offer complete eco-friendly party kits for all kinds of gatherings.  You can get fully supplied for kids’ birthday parties, baby showers, weddings, and other celebrations.  You can also just get different items separetely, including hair things and jewelry, books, sketchbooks, totebags, dishware, tablecloths, wrapping paper, and dozens of other things. 

As I browsed through the site, I was impressed several times by how reasonable the prices were.  Not everything was cheap, but nothing was any more expensive than you’d find in a local retail store, and some things were considerably less. 

So, since it’s not more expensive, and it’s actually easier to buy things on line than to go to the store, even lazy people like me can probably manage to do their part.  Green Planet Parties can help with that.