Solo Parent

Solo Parent
  • 5.0 (11)
  • KIDS & FAMILY
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

Being a single parent brings real pressure. You should not face it alone. The Solo Parent Podcast offers honest conversation, expert insight, and practical help for raising healthy kids while carrying the weight alone. Created by single parents for single parents, each episode speaks to the emotional, relational, and everyday realities of solo parenting. Hosted by author and Solo Parent founder Robert Beeson, alongside Elizabeth Cole, Vice President of Solo Parent and a single mom herself, this podcast has supported thousands of single parents worldwide. It is for single moms and dads navigating divorce, loss, or abandonment who want steadiness, hope, and connection. Solo Parent exists to make sure no single parent walks alone. Through daily support groups, articles, guided meditations, and a free dedicated app, Solo Parent provides steady, practical support for every stage of the journey. Listeners can engage beyond the podcast and find real community, daily encouragement, and tools built specifically for single parent life. Go to www.SoloParent.org or download our app, on any app platform, to learn more!

  1. Getting Out of Our Comfort Zone

    19H AGO

    Getting Out of Our Comfort Zone

    This week we're discussing Getting Out of Our Comfort Zone. Most of us have a version of life we have quietly decided is good enough. Not thriving, maybe, but manageable. And when you are doing this alone, manageable starts to feel like a win. The problem is that manageable has a way of becoming permanent if nobody asks the harder question: is this actually where you want to stay? Robert Beeson, Founder and CEO of Solo Parent, and Elizabeth Cole, single parent and co-host, sit down with Amber Fuller, a counselor with a Master's in Marriage and Family Therapy and single parent herself, to get honest about what the comfort zone actually costs and what it looks like to take one step out of it without blowing up the life you have worked hard to build. Key Insights from This Episode Familiar is not the same as free. What feels like stability may actually be avoidance wearing the clothes of comfort. There is a real difference between the growth zone and the panic zone. One stretches you with purpose; the other pushes you past your limits and burns you out. One small step is not a consolation prize. Starting smaller than you think you need to is exactly how lasting growth happens. Resources Mentioned in This Episode: Judith Bardwick - Danger in the Comfort Zone Brene Brown Jon Acuff — Soundtracks Stay Connected + Get Support: Download our Solo Parent App  Join a Solo Parent Online Group Learn more about Solo Parent Follow us on Instagram

    30 min
  2. What's Holding You Back and How It's Affecting Your Kids

    MAY 4

    What's Holding You Back and How It's Affecting Your Kids

    This week we're discussing What's Holding You Back and How It's Affecting Your Kids. Growth doesn't always announce itself as something you're missing. Sometimes you're functioning, even thriving in some areas, and still carrying patterns that are quietly working against you. Denial, shame spiraling, overcompensating, running to busyness or numbing out. You don't have to be falling apart to need this. You just have to be human. And the way you're handling the hard things right now is already shaping the way your kids will learn to handle theirs. Robert Beeson, Founder and CEO of Solo Parent, and Elizabeth Cole, single parent and co-host, sit down with Amber Fuller, a counselor with a Master's in Marriage and Family Therapy and a single parent herself, to name the patterns that quietly keep solo parents from growing. Amber brings both clinical insight and lived experience, speaking not just as a therapist but as someone who has navigated the same hard terrain. Together they get honest about the traps, and the part nobody talks about enough: how those patterns find their way into our kids. Key Insights from This Episode Naming the trap is the most courageous first step. Whether it shows up as denial, shame spiraling, or overcompensating, you cannot grow through something you are not willing to honestly look at. Staying in the river is a learnable skill. Sitting with hard emotions rather than escaping to busyness or apathy is not something you either have or don't; it is something you practice, and it gets easier. Your growth is already teaching your kids something. More is caught than taught, and when you do the work of facing your own struggles honestly, that becomes one of the most powerful things you can model. Resources Mentioned in This Episode: Chip Dodd - Living Fully in the River - Podcast Stay Connected + Get Support: Download our Solo Parent App  Join a Solo Parent Online Group Learn more about Solo Parent Follow us on Instagram

    38 min
  3. From Panic to Plan: Thriving as a Solo Parent on a Budget

    APR 27

    From Panic to Plan: Thriving as a Solo Parent on a Budget

    This week we're discussing From Panic to Plan: Thriving as a Solo Parent on a Budget. For a lot of solo parents, the finances were never really theirs to begin with. Someone else handled it, and then one day that changed completely. No transition, no training, no runway. Just a pile of bills, a household to run, and children depending on every decision you make. Robert Beeson, Founder and CEO of Solo Parent, and Elizabeth Cole, single parent, sit down with Shirley Baldiris, a single mom, Solo Parent community member, and emerging financial coach trained through Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University. Shirley woke up one morning facing four months of back rent, a home in foreclosure, and debt she didn't know existed. What she built from that starting point, and how she built it, is what this conversation is about. Most financial advice was not designed for the single income, single parent reality. Shirley's approach was. And the practical steps she shares are ones solo parents can actually use. Key Insights from This Episode: Start with your four walls, not your full financial picture. When everything feels urgent, protecting your roof, food, transportation, and utilities first gives you a foundation to build from. Budgeting in small, honest increments builds more than a plan. Starting week by week instead of month by month creates the consistency and self-trust that makes financial stability possible over time. Negotiating with lenders is a skill, and it works more often than you think. Being honest about your situation with landlords, credit card companies, and mortgage lenders can open doors that most solo parents never think to knock on. Shirley closed by saying what every solo parent in a financial crisis needs to hear: you have the intelligence, you have the stamina, and you are absolutely qualified to take hold of this. The panic is not the whole story. Resources Mentioned in This Episode: Financial Peace University (Dave Ramsey) The Four Walls Framework (Dave Ramsey) Stay Connected + Get Support: Download our Solo Parent App  Join a Solo Parent Online Group Learn more about Solo Parent Follow us on Instagram

    46 min
  4. Emotional Stability

    APR 20

    Emotional Stability

    This week we're discussing Emotional Stability with Dr. Chip Dodd When you are the only adult in the house, pushing through stops being a choice and starts being a reflex. Feelings get quieted because there is no margin for them. But survival mode and actually living are two very different things. One keeps you functional. The other is what you were made for. And until you understand the difference, it is easy to mistake getting through the day for being okay. Robert Beeson, Founder and CEO of Solo Parent, and Elizabeth Cole, single parent and co-host, sit down with Dr. Chip Dodd, a counselor, speaker, and author with over 30 years of experience serving others through emotional health and recovery. His book Voice of the Heart has become foundational for many solo parents trying to understand their own emotional landscape. Together they walk through all eight core feelings, not as burdens to manage, but as gifts that, when understood, move us toward healing, connection, and a fuller life. Key Insights from This Episode Survival mode is not a failure, but staying there keeps you from the life you were made for. Reducing emotion to get through the day is a natural grief response, but remaining in that place over time recreates the very isolation you are trying to escape. Your feelings, even the painful ones, are not signs of weakness. Each of the eight core emotions has a purpose and a direction, designed to move you toward healing, connection, and ultimately a life lived more fully. Needing other people is not a liability. Dependency resilience, the capacity to lean on others and on God, is one of the most powerful qualities a human being can develop, and it grows in community. Resources Mentioned in This Episode: Dr. Chip Dodd Voice of the Heart Living With Heart Podcast The Voice of the Heart Center "How Are You Feeling Today?" Podcast hosted by Alex Courington Solo Parent previous episode Courage to be Angry with Dr. Chip Dodd  Stay Connected + Get Support: Download our Solo Parent App  Join a Solo Parent Group Learn more about Solo Parent Follow us on Instagram

    42 min
  5. Creating a Stable Home for Our Kids

    APR 13

    Creating a Stable Home for Our Kids

    This week we're discussing Creating a Stable Home for Our Kids. The deeper fear most solo parents carry isn't about logistics. It's the worry that the tension, the grief, the moments of emotional checkout just to survive the day, are quietly shaping who their kids are becoming. And underneath that fear lives a question worth asking out loud: is one parent really enough to give a child real stability? The answer is yes. Robert Beeson, Founder and CEO of Solo Parent, Elizabeth Cole, a single parent, and Amber Fuller, a counselor with a Master's in Marriage and Family Therapy and a single mom herself, work through that question with honesty and care. What creates stability for kids isn't a two-parent household. It's about presence, self-awareness, and the rhythms you build at home. Solo parents navigating this topic know the weight of it. The pressure to be both mom and dad. The anxiety about what happens in a home you can't control. The struggle to hold routines together when your own emotional reserves are running low. Key Insights from This Episode: One present parent is enough. Your kids don't need a two-parent household to feel secure. They need you, consistently showing up. Self-awareness is the foundation. You can't offer emotional stability to your kids if you haven't first done the work of knowing what's happening inside you. Routines are how kids learn the world is safe. The rhythms and rituals you build at home aren't just organizational. They are how your kids develop a sense of security. Resources Mentioned in This Episode: Love as a Boundary with Dr. Henry Cloud Stay Connected + Get Support: Download our Solo Parent App  Join a Solo Parent Group Learn more about Solo Parent Follow us on Instagram

    26 min
  6. How to Find Stability When Nothing is Stable

    APR 6

    How to Find Stability When Nothing is Stable

    This week we're discussing How to Find Stability When Nothing is Stable. You are holding more than most people will ever see. The bills, the decisions, the late-night worries, the questions your kids ask that you don't have answers to. And somewhere underneath all the managing and the doing is a feeling that doesn't have a clean name: a low-grade unsteadiness, like the ground beneath you is just slightly off. Robert Beeson, Founder and CEO of Solo Parent, joins Elizabeth Cole, single parent and co-host, and Amber Fuller, a counselor with a Master's in Marriage and Family Therapy and single parent herself, for an honest conversation about what it actually takes to feel grounded when life keeps shifting. Amber brings both clinical insight and personal experience to the table, speaking not just as a therapist but as someone who has navigated the same uncertainty solo parents know well. This conversation gets honest about what actually sits at the center of why stability feels so out of reach for solo parents. Unprocessed grief quietly blocks forward motion, keeping you stuck between the life you lost and the one you're trying to build. The instinct to stay busy or numb out works against you, pushing away the very stillness that restores steadiness. And when a real, pressing crisis lands with no partner to call on, knowing how to take one grounded step forward can make all the difference. Key Insights from This Episode: Naming what you're carrying is the first step toward putting it down. Unprocessed grief doesn't disappear when ignored; it becomes the weight that quietly keeps you from building what's next. Inner stability is built by plugging back into a grounding source, not by solving everything at once. Whether it's prayer, stillness, or a simple morning ritual, returning to something steady is what keeps you anchored. Small, repeatable anchors create the predictability that stability is actually made of. You don't need to fix everything; you need a few things you can count on, and the courage to ask for help when the problem is bigger than you. Resources Mentioned in This Episode: Atomic Habits by James Clear Stay Connected + Get Support: Download our Solo Parent App  Join a Solo Parent Online Group Learn more about Solo Parent Follow us on Instagram

    34 min
  7. Quality Time with Your Kids as a Single Parent

    MAR 30

    Quality Time with Your Kids as a Single Parent

    This week we're discussing Quality Time with Your Kids as a Single Parent You were there. Physically on the floor, in the room, at the table. And yet somewhere between the Legos and the dinner cleanup, you realized your mind had been somewhere else the entire time. That feeling, of showing up but not quite arriving, is one of the hardest parts of solo parenting to talk about because it carries so much guilt with it. Robert Beeson, Founder and CEO of Solo Parent, sits down with Elizabeth Cole, single parent and co-host, and Amber Fuller, a counselor with a Master's in Marriage and Family Therapy (MMFT) and single parent, to get honest about why real connection with your kids can feel so hard to access, and what it actually takes to close that gap without overhauling your life. This conversation names the pressures most solo parents feel but rarely say out loud. Feeling physically present with your kids but emotionally somewhere else entirely, and not knowing how to fix it. Believing quality time has to look a certain way, and carrying the weight of falling short of that picture. Not knowing how to build genuine connection when your schedule, your energy, and your emotional reserves are all running low. If any of that sounds familiar, this one is worth your time. Key Insights from This Episode: Emotional capacity, not a packed schedule, is what gets in the way of real presence. The emotional weight of solo parenting can quietly drain the reserves you need to actually show up for your kids. Quality time isn't about the activity, it's about your kids knowing they matter to you. When your children feel seen, safe, and loved, that connection becomes the secure base they spring from into the rest of their lives. Micro moments and small rituals already inside your routine are enough. You don't need a bigger schedule or a better plan; you need to recognize the connection opportunities you're already walking past every day. Resources Mentioned in This Episode: CNBC Article: I've studies over 200 kids - the happiest ones have parents who do 9 things with them every morning Chip Dodd: Concept of "home base" can be found in his book "Voice of the Heart" Dan Siegel:  The Yes Brain: How to Cultivate Courage, Curiosity, and Resilience in Your Child Stay Connected + Get Support: Download our Solo Parent App  Join a Solo Parent Online Group Learn more about Solo Parent

    37 min
  8. The One Parenting Skill That Changes Everything

    MAR 23

    The One Parenting Skill That Changes Everything

    This week we're discussing The One Parenting Skill That Changes Everything. There are nights when you replay the whole day. The sharp word before school. The moment you lost patience and immediately wished you could take it back. As a solo parent, guilt settles in fast. It sits with you through dinner, through bedtime, through the quiet after the kids are asleep. You wonder if the damage is already done. But what if the thing you're most afraid of admitting is actually the very thing that could change everything? Robert Beeson, Founder and CEO of Solo Parent, sits down with Elizabeth Cole, single parent and co-host, and Amber Fuller, a counselor with a Master's in Marriage and Family Therapy and single parent herself, to talk honestly about repair: what it is, what gets in the way, and how to actually do it. This conversation gets honest about something most solo parents feel but rarely say out loud. The guilt from past mistakes can sit for a long time when you don't know where to begin. Shame, survival mode, and never having seen repair modeled growing up all make it harder. And even when the desire is there, knowing what to actually do in the moment is its own challenge. Key Insights from This Episode: Repair is one of the most powerful gifts you can give your child. When a parent owns a mistake, it builds trust, validates a child's feelings, and shows them that being human is not something to be ashamed of. Toxic shame, lack of modeling, and the pace of solo life are the biggest barriers to repair. Naming what gets in the way is the first step toward not letting it stay in the way. Real repair follows four steps: Admit, Acknowledge, Accept responsibility and Apologize, and Act differently. Words begin the process, but changed behavior over time is what makes repair real. Stay Connected + Get Support: Download our Solo Parent App  Join a Solo Parent Online Group Learn more about Solo Parent Follow us on Instagram

    36 min
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5
out of 5
11 Ratings

About

Being a single parent brings real pressure. You should not face it alone. The Solo Parent Podcast offers honest conversation, expert insight, and practical help for raising healthy kids while carrying the weight alone. Created by single parents for single parents, each episode speaks to the emotional, relational, and everyday realities of solo parenting. Hosted by author and Solo Parent founder Robert Beeson, alongside Elizabeth Cole, Vice President of Solo Parent and a single mom herself, this podcast has supported thousands of single parents worldwide. It is for single moms and dads navigating divorce, loss, or abandonment who want steadiness, hope, and connection. Solo Parent exists to make sure no single parent walks alone. Through daily support groups, articles, guided meditations, and a free dedicated app, Solo Parent provides steady, practical support for every stage of the journey. Listeners can engage beyond the podcast and find real community, daily encouragement, and tools built specifically for single parent life. Go to www.SoloParent.org or download our app, on any app platform, to learn more!

Information

  • Creator
    Solo Parent
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    81
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Solo Parent
  • Show Website
    Solo Parent

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