Single Superheroes?

So, I saw a bumper sticker today that read, “Single Moms are the Superheroes”

Really?  I’m not knocking single moms, or any other moms, for that matter.  I know that A – people make mistakes, different decisions, some adopt, and some are left by the fathers of the children for reasons beyond their control.  But are they “the” superheroes?

I know a mom who had 2 children with her husband and several years of her life invested.  They’d been having marital issues and he started a relationship with another woman.  This mom valued keeping her family together enough that she found it in her heart to forgive him, asked him to come back home, prayed for him without ceasing, worked on their relationship together and have a thriving marriage several years later.  Not only she and he, but also the kids, benefited from that.  I think she’s a superhero.

My own mom was a single mother.  Although the courts awarded my dad custody of us until I went to live with her when I was 13, which I know had to be sooo hard for her, she was a great mom.  She taught me the value of hard work, loved me unconditionally, encouraged my passions and helped me thrive, despite our difficult circumstances.  She raised my nieces and nephew and has cared for her mother with Alzheimer’s for almost 15 years.  I think she’s a Superhero.

I also know a mom who has adopted at LEAST 10 kids (I’ve lost count), most of which have special needs to one degree or another and would have spent their entire childhood in foster care, and probably their adult years as wards of the state, had she and her wonderful husband not stepped in to LOVE them and care for them.  She’s definitely a Superhero.

I know a Mom of 6 who homeschooled her kids and made it look easy.  One of the most patient, calm women I’ve ever known, and I learned a lot from her about keeping the calm in the midst of the storm.  She’s a Superhero.

And then there’s the Mom who had high hopes and dreams of being a SAHM for her kids, but when her husband’s pastoral position didn’t provide health insurance for their family, went back to work as a teacher even though it broke her heart to leave her kids every day.  She’s doing what her family and her husband needed her to do, even though it wasn’t what she planned.  Superhero indeed.

Finally, the Mom who went back to school to work on her doctorate and show her kids that they can, indeed, succeed at whatever they set their hearts to, regardless of how insurmountable the odds seem at first.  Superhero.

So, no – Single Moms are not “the” superheroes.  They can be, though – just like any other Mom who sets her heart and mind to loving and caring for her children above all else.