Welcome to the group Feelingtrapped. I think all of us have felt that way at one time or another. My son is an older teen now, so my situation is not much like yours. I was hoping some mom's of littles would answer soon.

Anyway, welcome to the group.
Best wishes.

Welcome, and God Bless you for choosing the path and career of teaching others, I think it is fabulous what teachers do, I truly think it is not right that your salary is not enough to survive on. With all that teachers do and endure daily in this career and care for other people's children the compensation should be much better.
I don't know about anyone else, but I thank you very much for all that you do, Our children are with their teachers more than they are with their parents. It just sickens me that a teacher can't even provide as much as they would like for their own family working in this field. It's a shame.
I hope that you will find some support here on daily strength and along the way make some great friends. I am Carrie single Mom my going on 5yr old in just under a week.
These are some challenging times we are all in with the corona virus. I am praying that all is staying safe and healthy until this all passes. Take Care and God Bless.

Be strong and take the help if you can get it, I recently just became a single mom to a newborn and 4 year old and I wish my ex or his family would help.
Im in the same boat as your I want to do better and be better but its hard especially when your not feeling the greatest. Being and staying motivated is hard. This is my first post on this site so maybe keep reaching out and venting to others in similar situations will help. Good luck to you, don't be to hard on yourself I'm sure your a great mom

Hello! I'm a single mom of a 3.5 year old girl, been separated 3 years and divorced 2.5 years. It gets worse before it gets better, and then you still have your good days and then bad days. Compounded with financial woes, it's like a never ending cycle. Your soul just can't find the rest it needs because the stress, worry, money anxiety, guilt, what-ifs plague you at night, while during the day you're running a relentless marathon of two jobs, one being a mother. I feel for you, single parents are suffering in poverty, and our children's needs just keep growing and growing. Money troubles are like drowning in water. It's like having your head under water, you can't breathe. But God is with you, and I've experienced that he will provide you what you need at the right time , and right when you exactly need it. So much we can't control sometimes of our financial situation, but there are things we can... priority being the best mom, the most present, loving, caring, brave mom you can be. also growing up we didn't have a lot of money. My dad was the sole breadwinner with two kids and was a teacher as well. I do remember money, the lack of, always having a limit on what we can do, where we can live, where we can go (on vacation if ever)... but that's not what affected mentally. It was the stress and mental health problems my parents suffered because of it, them not being present, them being stressed and complaining all the time, them yelling at us and venting at us (kids) because they couldn't deal with their anger in a healthy way.. that's what affected us and still affects me to this day.

So be the best mom you can be, be loving, kind, strong, gracious and validating.

God will take care of you and your kids, and your kids will grow up stronger and more resourceful than any other kids around.