13 Incredible Things That Happen When You Grow Up With A Single Mother

1. You learn what resilience is from a young age. Things are harder for single mothers, that’s no secret. You watch your mom work harder for her family’s well-being than anyone else you could imagine, and never complain to you about it. She is your guide for managing difficulty in your life.

2. You never ended up in a shitty relationship. Knowing that you don’t *need* to have a partner in order to survive freed you up to evaluate potential partners based on what they would truly add to your life, you were never clouded by the fear of being alone.

3. You’ve never shied away from hard work. Your mom never passed off the difficult jobs to someone else, and you absorbed that notion. Everything that you need in your life, you can accomplish by yourself.

4. You have an incredible sense of loyalty to your family. When you’re a smaller family you have to look out for each other. Even if your mom or siblings aren’t your BFF, you still guard them more than most families, you’re all you’ve got and you need to

5. You’ve always respected women. If your mom could do everything, why can’t any other woman?

6. Man or woman, your homemaking skills are A+. You know how to do your own laundry, clean difficult stains, sew a button on, and anything else you need to do in your adult life. Your mom didn’t have endless time to wait on you, so you were taught how to take care of yourself.

7. You grew up knowing that things might not look perfect on the outside, but what’s important is that they work for you. To this day you’ve got a bit of insulation against the opinions of others.

8. Gender stereotypes don’t mean much to you. A woman can fix a car and still be feminine. Femininity is embracing being a woman, but this can be done while doing anything, including things that are typically “guy” jobs.

9. You’re probably a pretty good cook, since you started cooking occasional dinners as soon as you were old enough to work the stove. Most of those dinners were Kraft mac and cheese with cut up hot dogs, but that counts.

10. In many other ways too, you’re an older soul than a lot of your friends. You’ve always thought of yourself as capable and watching your mom made you unafraid to strike out on your own. Everything’s a risk, but if she can manage it, so could you.

11. You know what’s important in life. Your mom had a lot on her plate at all times, but she knew how to drop it when you needed her. Skinned knees and broken hearts are the things that matter.

12. You’ve learned to thrive on tough love. You don’t need to be coddled, and your life is a lot better for it.

13. There’s a point in everyone’s life when you realize your parents aren’t mythical super heros, they are flawed humans. You realized this early on but the sense of awe never faded, you still really don’t know how she did it.