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Sing Your Own Song: A Guide for Single Moms
A refreshingly different motherhood manual... Cynthia Orange brings equal parts information and inspiration to this pragmatic yet soulful guide for single moms. Managing time and money, juggling the demands of work and child care, balancing personal needs with parenting responsibilities-these are the everyday concerns Orange addresses with preach-free common sense and welcome candor. Interwoven with firsthand stories and experiences, Sing Your Own Song resonates with affirmation and support for single moms everywhere. "The advice offered in this guide is empathetic, practical, and mercifully realistic. It's like having a kind companion at your side whispering encouragement in your ear."
Cheri Register, sole custody mother and author of The Chronic Illness Experience, Are Those Kids Yours?, and Packinghouse Daughter "Cynthia Orange speaks from the heart and from a wellspring of experience, her own and that of many whom she interviewed. An excellent resource for any mother who is struggling alone to be all that she is called on to be."
Karen Casey, author of Each Day a New Beginning
Cheri Register, sole custody mother and author of The Chronic Illness Experience, Are Those Kids Yours?, and Packinghouse Daughter "Cynthia Orange speaks from the heart and from a wellspring of experience, her own and that of many whom she interviewed. An excellent resource for any mother who is struggling alone to be all that she is called on to be."
Karen Casey, author of Each Day a New Beginning
188 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2001
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November 12, 2025
This is a book for single mothers about how to cope, finances, love etc. It "brings equal parts information and inspiration to this pragmatic yet soulful guide for single moms. Managing time and money, juggling the demands of work and child care, balancing personal needs with parenting responsibilities-these are the everyday concerns Orange addresses with preach-free common sense and welcome candor. Interwoven with firsthand stories and experiences, Sing Your Own Song resonates with affirmation and support for single moms everywhere. "
Some things have changed in my life, and I'm not single but we haven't reached the point where I'm not a single-mother though either. It's changing, and bit by bit my boyfriend is stepping into a parental role, but we aren't rushing it. So reading this book gave me some mixed feelings, it was and it wasn't appropriate for my life stage. At least that is how I felt until I read it. There was a lot of great advice about how to parent. That family isn't defined by anyone besides those who are in it. That the relationship that I have with my best friend across the country, my best friend down the street, my boyfriend and my parents are all part of the definition that makes up "My Family" and that makes up the definition of family for my children. That I have created a community, without realizing it, I have a strong support system for myself and my children. That I take the time to take care of myself, that it isn't really taking away from my children as allowing me to be whole and that gives them more than running myself down ever could.
It wasn't until part 5, Raising Reslient Children, that I started to feel like the book was reaching out to me instating of just re-affirming my actions. "It is not our job to protect our children from life. It is our job to ready them to meet life's challenges with grace and confidence so they can discover how they might turn the challenges into opportunities." I have always felt this way, but I hadn't been able to state in so cohesively before. This section spoke to me, and gave some great tips about listening and how to really prepare my children in 10+ years to fly the nest.
I felt that this was a good book, I think that if I had read it a year ago I would have found it more helpful and probably have given it a 4 or a 5 star rating. But it was more of a confirmation that I was on the right track, rather than assistance to get where I already am.
Some things have changed in my life, and I'm not single but we haven't reached the point where I'm not a single-mother though either. It's changing, and bit by bit my boyfriend is stepping into a parental role, but we aren't rushing it. So reading this book gave me some mixed feelings, it was and it wasn't appropriate for my life stage. At least that is how I felt until I read it. There was a lot of great advice about how to parent. That family isn't defined by anyone besides those who are in it. That the relationship that I have with my best friend across the country, my best friend down the street, my boyfriend and my parents are all part of the definition that makes up "My Family" and that makes up the definition of family for my children. That I have created a community, without realizing it, I have a strong support system for myself and my children. That I take the time to take care of myself, that it isn't really taking away from my children as allowing me to be whole and that gives them more than running myself down ever could.
It wasn't until part 5, Raising Reslient Children, that I started to feel like the book was reaching out to me instating of just re-affirming my actions. "It is not our job to protect our children from life. It is our job to ready them to meet life's challenges with grace and confidence so they can discover how they might turn the challenges into opportunities." I have always felt this way, but I hadn't been able to state in so cohesively before. This section spoke to me, and gave some great tips about listening and how to really prepare my children in 10+ years to fly the nest.
I felt that this was a good book, I think that if I had read it a year ago I would have found it more helpful and probably have given it a 4 or a 5 star rating. But it was more of a confirmation that I was on the right track, rather than assistance to get where I already am.
Displaying 1 of 1 review