Happy Thanksgiving!!

Just a quick little note to remind to wish you all a wonderful, joyous Turkey Day!! Be thankful for all you achieved, for all the wonderful things in your life, for your supporters and also your non-supporters, proving them wrong is motivation as well. Take motivation from all sources, work your way to your goals, no matter what they might be.
Today I am thankful for my loving family and my amazing friends and my baby bear, William and my wonderful boyfriend, Steve. Without all of you, I probably wouldn't be where I am now. Happy Thanksgiving!

Also, if you're not already a fan, come like me on my Facebook page! I post links to articles that are of interest to education as well as motivation and inspirational quotes everyday!
http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/From-Statistic-to-Anomaly/139657529470172

Some statistics for you

So, to really bring home the facts, some food for thought for you:

• There are 14 million single parents in the US today
• 83.1% of those are mothers, the last 16.9% are fathers

Of those:

• 79.5% of the mothers are employed
• 27% of the mothers live in poverty
• 22% receive medcaid
• 23.5% receive food stamps
• 12% receive some form of housing assitance
• 5% receive TANF

To put it more in perspective, two parent house holds held only 6.7% of the population in poverty.

I'm still looking for more statistics on this, so is just a small portion. I did focus on the mothers more because I am one. But don't think I'll just disregard the fathers. Being a single parent, mom or dad, it's hard. It's you and your kid(s) against the world, with no one by your side to assist. But we do what we have to so we can survive and raise our kids rights. My therapist told me today that I should be commended: I work, I go to school, I raise William and I have a boyfriend. She said I could take the easy route and quit school, she said this is always an option but it's great that I'm not allowing myself that option. To me, that is never an option. In William's karate class his teacher tells them, "Winners NEVER quit, and quitters NEVER win." These are wise words to live by.

Sources:

Dorning, J. (2010, April). PROFESSIONAL WOMEN: VITAL STATISTICS. In pay-equity.org. Retrieved November 16, 2011, from http://www.pay-equity.org/PDFs/ProfWomen.pdf

Single Parent Statistics- What do they tell us? (2011, August 3). In Single Parent Center. Retrieved November 16, 2011, from http://www.singleparentcenter.net/single-parent-statistics.html

Wolf, J. (n.d.). Single Parent Statistics. In About.com Single Parents. Retrieved November 16, 2011, from http://singleparents.about.com/od/legalissues/p/portrait.htm

First time for everything

So I dropped a class for the first time ever. I'm almost ashamed to admit it. It feels much like quitting. But there is a lesson here. Sometimes, even if it feels like giving up, you need to drop something to make things easier or better. If your grades are suffering then it is time to re-evaluate if it is worth continuing the way you are. I hated dropping that class but it had to be done. Now I can improve my grades in the classes I do need to graduate.