Being a mother is not always about hugs and kisses, it's also about changing dirty diapers and sleepless nights.
While that one beautiful smile from your toddler will definitely make your day, there will be times when their cries will ruin your nights too.
Being a mother will make you face every emotion, sometimes you will be proud of your baby's health and sometimes you will feel that you should have probably breastfed him/her more.
You will happily work like a labor in kitchen for hours to make your kid's favorite dish and you will also get angry as hell when they refuse to even taste it because it smells funny or just doesn't looks like what they imagined it to be.
You will feel relieved when they start bathing on their own and you will feel anguished when none of the medications would stop them from wetting their bed.
It's true that raising a child is a shared responsibility but it's the mother who ends up sacrificing the most.
Perhaps it's not right to even call it a sacrifice as for a mother it's only natural to put her child before anything else.
It is tough for any woman to fulfill her duties as a mother while playing all other roles simultaneously that a woman does.
Motherhood becomes exceptionally difficult for single mothers and for those who are on a low income it proves to be nothing less than building the pyramids of Egypt with your own bare hands.
I am a single mother too and I understand what it is like to juggle with your day job and your responsibilities as a mother.
From day one when your child is born to the day he/she starts fending for themselves, life of a single mother is daunting hard labor at the least.
Most of the single mothers don't earn enough to afford child care and considering the economy that we live in, employers are always getting more and more impatient, demanding more from their employees.
It seems like nobody is ready to cut some slack for a single mother.
Various studies on social behavior (I can attest to these studies from my own experience) have found that single mothers often feel overworked and humiliated at their work place.
Most of the employers look at single mothers as inefficient employees.
It has been found in these studies that nursing mothers are more likely to get fired from their jobs as compared to other employees.
Even though there are a bunch of laws protecting the interests of a woman as a mother at the workplace but I don't believe that they can make any difference unless the social outlook changes.
From being the sole bread earner to the primary care provider, a single mother has to fulfill all the responsibilities.
In the hardships of raising a child and earning a decent income it's easier to forget your own interests and likings.
I still clearly remember my days of hardships.
I gave birth to my son, Alex, after I got divorced.
Being the lone bread earner, I took up the job of a waitress at a local restaurant.
Each day for two years my life was limited to my home and restaurant.
Obviously I never earned enough to afford child care and tips were hard to come by in a small town restaurant.
Managing between waiting at the restaurant and taking care of Alex proved to be much harder than I thought.
At times, my sister would help me and babysit my son but she had a family of her own so most of the times I was on my own.
Today I earn well, I decided to spend more time with my son and ended up as a writer.
I know things are hard for single mothers but I will advice them not to lose hope.
Try to find your niche and capitalize on it.
I found mine in writing and today I work from home, spending most of my time watching my son grow in to a young man.