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"Yesterday was Father&amp;#039;s Day, and my Facebook feed was awash in pictures of Dads and Dad-like goings on and tributes to wonderful fathers everywhere. And along with all that, came the shout-outs from my well-meaning friends. &amp;quot;Here&amp;#039;s to all the single Moms on Father&amp;#039;s Day!&amp;quot; &amp;quot;Let&amp;#039;s hear it for the women who have to be both Mom and Dad on Father&amp;#039;s Day!&amp;quot; I had a flood of personal messages from terrific friends and neighbors letting me know that I was on their list of great parents this Father&amp;#039;s Day. I appreciate the sentiment, I honestly do. It&amp;#039;s wonderful to be acknowledged for working hard at your kids&amp;#039; happiness, but I also have to tell you, it made me really uncomfortable, because I didn&amp;#039;t deserve it. Not on Father&amp;#039;s Day. Yes, I&amp;#039;m a single Mom. I have no man in my life, helping me with the day-to-day tasks of housework and homework and dealing with a kid in meltdown or a sullen teen who won&amp;#039;t hand you her phone. But my kids still have a father. And for all his faults as a husband, he&amp;#039;s a pretty good Dad to them. He may only see them every other weekend and one weekday, but he&amp;#039;s still their Dad and he always will be, and he is an active participant in their lives.  I may be a single Mom, but I&amp;#039;m not my children&amp;#039;s only parent. There are plenty of women who carry that load, and they have my full respect and admiration for it, as do the multitude of single Dads and single grandparents out there who do it all alone. Being a single parent is incredibly hard, and I am so very grateful that I only have the occasional day where I&amp;#039;m wishing I had someone who&amp;#039;s got my back. Those of you who still have an ex who is actively involved with the kids - does it make you uncomfortable when well-meaning friends or family act like he&amp;#039;s not a part of their life? I mean, I may not feel warm and fuzzy for the ex anymore, but I do want to give the man his due. Yesterday was his special day, and I believe that he deserved to be acknowledged for it. What do you think? [Follow Ellie at SingleMomtism.com or on Facebook and Twitter] "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.womansday.com/relationships/dating-marriage/a48730/single-mom-not-single-parent/>