Single parents can find a sitter for the wedding or the work trip. What nobody gives them is margin — the ordinary, scheduled kind they don’t have to earn by asking.
Give a Single Parent the First Friday
Tell one single parent you've got the kids the first Friday of every month, then put it on both calendars so they never have to ask.
What you'll need
- A standing date on your calendar
- A frozen pizza and a board game at your place, or theirs
What to say
"First Friday of every month, the kids are mine from 5 to 9. It's already on my calendar. You don't have to plan anything — just leave."
Pitfalls
- Make it recurring, not "sometime." An open offer never gets used; a date does.
- Don't ask what they did with the evening. A nap counts.
- If a Friday falls through, reschedule it — don't let it quietly die.
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress. — James 1:27