Sharing this post on social media? Use this image description to make it accessible. [Image: Bellamy S., founder of Revolutionary Humans. She wears glasses, her hair loose, and a pink shirt from the Revolutionary Humans store that says ‘radical. resistant. rebellious. revolutionary’]
Are you…
a single caregiver stretched to the max ?
happily co-parenting and looking for ways to support single parents in your community?
Or perhaps 24/7 isolation with your partner and kids has you questioning whether single parenting would be healthier for your kids?
Join us as we cackle through the hard stuff and find ways to raise stronger kids through hardship.
Raising Luminaries(RL) & Books for Littles (BFL) is free and accessible for readers who can’t afford a paywall. Posts may contain affiliate links, which allow me to earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Check out the full affiliate disclosure along with my statement of accountability.
Watch the webinar
Join Bellamy of Revolutionary Humans (a single mom) and Ashia of Raising Luminaries (raised by a single mom) along with a few members of our community in discussing how to build a stronger ties and raising kyriarchy-smashing kids through listening to and supporting single parents.
Mother and daughter exit apartment with their therapy dog
Calls to Action: Read and discuss with other adults
Everything is Bullshit: A reality check for victim-blaming disguised as support, what not to say to newly single parents. “No one was meant to parent around the clock and no one is designed to monitor children 100% on their own for all of time. It is beyond hard and exhausting. It is bullshit.”
This is Unsustainable: An ebook full of essays to challenge assumptions on single parenting, kid-friendly activities, and affirmations.
American Crucible: On divorce and single parenting as an immigrant in the US: An American Armenian Russian immigrant mother navigates life through financial debt, isolated across the world from her family, friends, and support community.
Light in The Tunnel: Navigating stigma against multi-generational single grandparent, single parent, and single child family constellations and neurodiversity.
The Mourning Doves: On single parenting and homeschooling a child with PTSD in a family created through transracial adoption.
Alone, or together with your kids: envision what a future where single parents are fully acknowledged, accepted and supported. Talk about how daily life would be different or the same.
Cater to your unique whims and skills: Make your vision sensory.
What does it look like? Make a vision board with magazine cutouts or a pinterest board.
Sound like? Make a playlist.
Taste like? What meals would you enjoy together? Make a menu.
What would life be like without current challenges? Write a story together.
Answering ‘How can I help’ worksheet preview via Revolutionary Humans
Calls To Action: Take Responsibility & Name It
Moving away from toxic independence to vulnerable interdependence is cool in theory, but hard to practice in real life. Get started with these worksheets created by Revolutionary Humans.*
Download and set aside 8 minutes to figure out: What Can I Do For Me? [PDF]
Model healthy self-soothing and self-care for your kids – and so you’re less likely to do something you’ll regret when you’re overwhelmed.
Download and set aside 8 minutes to figure out: What does ‘support’ look like for YOU? [PDF]
When shit hits the fan, we’re too frazzled to come up with ideas. Keep this worksheet handy for recognizing tasks you can outsource when you’re overwhelmed.
*These are placeholder links until there’s a product or activity page on the RH website for these. Until these are available on the RH site for purchase, please contribute what you can to the RevHum Tip Jar if you found these helpful.
Calls to Action: Brainstorm in your community
Consider the places where you hold influence – PTO’s, company meetings, parent groups, book clubs, daycare feedback surveys, letters to your senators, dinner conversations. Where can you poke the bear and get people to start talking and adjusting policies?
What assumptions do we need to dismantle to destigmatize single parenting?
What systems do we need to put in place so every single parent has what they need to survive and thrive?
Once you’ve identified a change that needs to happen, invite your kids, teachers, and community centers to create kid-friendly actions to process this ideas through art advocacy.
[Image: Instagram post via Revolutionary Humans: Text reads “I am not weak, and I always need help” excerpted from the Single Parenting in a Post-Apocalyptic Hellscape event discussion.]
Learn about the #FreeBlackMamas initiative & the Free Black Mamas Fellowship, supporting caregivers and children targeted by racist policing, unnecessary incarceration, and family separation that disproportionately affects single Black mothers and their families.
“Essie Justice Group’s 2018 report, Because She’s Powerful, found that nearly 70 percent of women with incarcerated loved ones are their family’s head of household and sole income earner. Additionally, the number of women incarcerated went from 8,000 people in 1970 to nearly 110,000 in 2014—and nearly two-thirds of incarcerated women are Black. “ …Read more
Who we are
Bellamy is a Queer single Black mother homeschooling two kids in isolation through the pandemic and the founder of Revolutionary Humans. Ashia was raised by a single neurodivergent mother during Reagan’s war on single mothers and is the founder of Raising Luminaries.
(They/them or She/her)
I'm an Autistic, multiracial (Chinese/Irish) 2nd-generation settler raising two children alongside my partner on the homelands of the Wampanoag and Massachusett people.
My goal with Raising Luminaries is to collaborate with families and educators in raising the next generation of kind & courageous leaders, so we can all smash the kyriarchy together.
