Stress and the Single Parent – When Your Child Does Not Call

Your thoughts and imagination can be a cause of stress for you as a single parent. If your child doesn't call at the appointed time, do you immediately start running through terrible scenarios such as your child was kidnapped, dead in a ditch, or unsupervised with a member of the opposite sex? These thoughts can cause your body to go into stress mode with heart palpitations, sweaty palms, and tensed muscles. You may start the chain reaction with your child fell off his or her bike and had to walk home injured and progress through worsening scenarios including death until you are in panic mode. And all it took to get this stress reaction started was your child not calling at the appointed time.

As a single parent, you are probably heavily invested in your children's lives, even more so than parents who have the other biological parent living with them. Your stress level may be chronically high since you may have financial issues, feel lonely, worry about your kids and have more to do than any one person could ever hope to accomplish. When you are accustomed to feeling stressed, it's even easier to let your already racing mind run wild with possible dreadful scenarios.

How can you stop these thoughts of doom? First, you need to realize that the chances that something terrible has happened are extremely low. The news media constantly publicizes the bad news which can lead people to believe that the risks of various bad events occurring are much higher than they really are. You might consider reducing your exposure to television and radio news to reduce the negative scenarios that are fed to your mind.

Instead of thinking the worst, be realistic. Maybe your child just forgot to call, misplaced her cell phone, or lost track of the time. Think about whether you are forgetting that your child had to stay late at school or was going to a friend's house. As a single parent, you may be juggling so many activities that you may have missed your child telling you his or her plans for the day or even forget what day of the week it is.

Before frantically calling everyone you know, take a few deep breaths, and determine your course of action. You may decide to give your child a little more time to call since maybe the bus was late. Or, you can carefully consider who might know the whereabouts of your child and make a few calls in a calm manner. Of course, if there are special circumstances such as your child has been struggling with mental health issues or run afoul of the law in the past, you may want to take immediate action and go find your him or her.

Stress and the single parent life go hand in hand. But, you can reduce your stress levels by controlling your thoughts when events such as your child not calling on time occur. Remember to keep your cool and think realistically when your child is late in calling you rather than imagining scenes of gloom and doom..