| There is a preceived sacred bond between mother | | | | So it is essential that you download some good |
| and child. While the latter can live without the father | | | | recipes from the Net or thumb through a recipe book |
| without much of a problem, absence of mother in early | | | | and try to master the dishes on weekends. |
| childhood can pose tremendous problems for a kid. | | | | Also, it is a good idea to include lot of fruit and |
| No father can offer the tenderness, affection and | | | | vegetable salads in the menu. These do not require a |
| emotional care to a child like a mother can. This is how | | | | lot of preparation but are still full of vitamins and other |
| God has meant it to be. The genes of a baby and | | | | nutrients. Meal times are when you should enforce a |
| mother are hot-wired for each other. Neither can live in | | | | little discipline and tell the kids to carry their utensils to |
| peace without the other. | | | | the kitchen and clean up the table. |
| Still, there are divorce cases where fathers have to be | | | | Laundry should be done on Sunday every week. |
| perforce assigned child custody. There can be any | | | | Putting clothes through a washing machine on |
| number of reasons for this, such as when a mother | | | | weekdays will add to your headache and you may |
| may be mentally instable, involved in drug abuse, may | | | | become tired or reach office late the following morning. |
| be incarcerated, may have abandoned the family for a | | | | You should buy enough clothes and school uniforms of |
| new lover or she simply may be interested in going her | | | | the children to last at least five days without washing. |
| own way with no strings attached. | | | | Kids have to go to school every morning. You as |
| Men and household chores have historically been total | | | | single dad would have a major role to play in this daily |
| strangers. This is because since times immemorial, | | | | ritual. Try to get up an hour before the kids to take |
| there has been a division of labour between husband | | | | care of their lunch. Also, make it a point to have |
| and wife. The former has always gone out to work | | | | everything ready the night before. Their school |
| and earn bread, while the latter has remained at home | | | | uniforms should be ironed, their shoes polished and their |
| and tended to children and kitchen. In the modern | | | | bags ready beforehand. |
| world, this arrangement often goes topsy-turvy. | | | | Bringing up daughters can be a bit tricky for single |
| Women go out to work while men have to take care | | | | fathers. You have to respect their privacy but still have |
| of the children when their mom is not around. | | | | to be their confidante. It is better to take the help of a |
| When men get child custody after divorce, they get it | | | | friend’s wife or some female relative in bringing |
| both ways – not only do they have to go to office | | | | your daughter up. You should take her out shopping |
| every day for work, they also have to manage the | | | | regularly and buy clothes of her choice as you |
| house and the children. They are forced to do the | | | | won’t be able to judge yourself what clothes she |
| work of both the parents with no one to help them. | | | | should be wearing. |
| It is a shock for the kids too. For them it is a strange | | | | As a single father, you can never replace mothers. |
| feeling to look up to their dad for every big and small | | | | Even trying to do so is futile. Kids can relate to you |
| need. It remains an uneasy arrangement for the first | | | | only as a father and male presence in their lives. The |
| few months. But time is a great teacher and gradually, | | | | place of a mother in the family can never be filled up |
| the kids as well as their father come to terms with | | | | by you. It is much better to try to be a good father and |
| single-fatherhood and begin to accept the situation as it | | | | give your best to the welfare and healthy upbringing of |
| exists. | | | | your children. The bond formed between you and your |
| The biggest problem for dads is managing the kitchen. | | | | children in these early years can lay a foundation for a |
| Single fathers have to take some cooking lessons in a | | | | very strong relationship between all of you that will last |
| hurry. Kids need nutritious food as their body is growing | | | | a life-time. |
| up. They just cannot have fast food on a regular basis. | | | | |