- Egg race. - Egg race?
- Yeah. - [Hannah] Okay, one, two, three, go. Whoa!
- I win! - [Hannah] That was amazing! - [Boy] I win! (lighthearted music) Hi, I'm Hannah and I'm
the World's OK-est Mom. Did you know that single-mother
households make up 23% of the U.S. population? That's a lot of single moms, and I wanna know how they do it. So, Matt is leaving on a
business trip for a whole week and I'm gonna take that time to see what my life
would be like if I were to become a single mom right now. I'm a little bit nervous,
but I'm gonna try it! Seven days, two kids,
one mom, let's do it. So, Matt is gonna be
gone for one full week and in that full week
it's gonna be just me. And in order to make this
week as authentic as possible, I did a little research on single moms and I found out that in
2011 the median income for married mothers was $80,000. For single moms, it was four times less. So, what I did was calculate my income as the sole income of our household, and after factoring out rent and daycare and insurance and all those expenses, I divided what I had left by four and gave myself that amount
to spend for that week. Right off the bat, that
meant that my babysitter, who I pay to pick up the
kids every day from school, was off the table; I could
not afford her for that week. Now, I hire her to pick up the kids so that I don't have to leave
work early to pick them up, and she just has them for a little bit, but that little bit
was way too much for me to even have any money
left over for that week. And even further, I decided not to rely on my family
for that week because, for a lot of people, they
don't have family nearby, or they don't have family
members who stay home and are able to help out with
the kids full-time for free. - Hi.
- This is your big break. - Your big break.
(laughs) - My big break. I can watch all the Forensic Files I want. We said our goodbyes, and I realized right as
he walked out the door, I needed to go to Target. So, it is eight o'clock in the evening, and we are going to
Target, all of us together. Aww, Jackson hit his face scootering. I have both kids, it's past their bedtime. Usually I would leave
them at home and run out, but we need some stuff for tomorrow and I have to take them with. Now, parents know when you go to Target with your kids, it's
like walking a tightrope. Target is not only a
parents' shopping paradise, it's a kids' shopping paradise. So it's just like the
worst of both worlds. Come on, let's keep going Jackson. Jackson, we're only here
for a couple things, okay? I needed two things at Target,
and so I was determined to go in and out with two things. It is 9:30, we got a little sidetracked at the, video game section. I had to, shoot down a
couple hopes and dreams. We're running a little late,
pretty behind for tonight. Definitely not doing this again. I was just flat on my back
exhausted after that Target run. Today was pretty tough,
Target was difficult. Now would be about the
time that I'd pass bedtime off to Matt so that I can relax, but it's just me so we're gonna do. Cuddles? - Cuddles! - Cuddles? - Yeah. - Good first day, huh? - [Boy] Yeah, it's mama day. - Mama day. - Mommy day. - Goodnight guys. - Goodnight.
- Goodnight. - This morning was rough. What are you shoving in the mail slot? To say the least. Let's get socks on. Come on Wyatt, let's get socks on. So we got Wyatt dropped
off finally, very late, and now we're heading to my work and Jackson is on spring
break, so he's coming with me to the office because I don't know what else to do with him. If you are a working parent and
you know the answer to this, leave it in the comments. What the heck do you do with
your kid on school vacations? Where do you put them? 'Cause Jackson had one
day left of spring break and I did not know what to do with him. I can't afford a sitter all
day to come stay with you. Yeah, I didn't know what to do with him, so I just hauled him in the
car and took him to work. So, as we're walking in to the office, I realize that I forgot
to fix Jackson's hair, and he dressed himself. Jackson, you're rockin' it! You look awesome!
- Thank you. - Jackson noticed and so
kindly pointed out to me, as kids often do. - Mama, you were wearing
that all nighttime. - This shirt, yes I did sleep in it. (laughs) It's like the parent
equivalent of walk of shame. But, it was clean when I slept in it, and I was clean when I put it on, so it's still clean the next day. Jackson was so easy at my office that day. We had a great day, got
home, got ready for bed, and then I had a choice to make. I really should get up and clean, and do some dishes and laundry and stuff, but I'm so tired right now, I just wanna sleep on this couch. So I think I'm gonna put
everything off for one more day. Now, both my kids sleep through the night, so it's very rare that we have middle-of-the-night
incidents, but of course, that night something happened. Jackson has a little cut on his lip. While he was sleeping,
it caught on his pillow and it bled a little
and I do not do blood. That is not my thing. That is something I delegate,
but I'm gonna handle it and clean it up and get
Jackson back to bed. You're brave buddy. Okay, we're in the car on our way to get these forms I need,
this paperwork I need. - [Boy] Target! - We finally, no we are
not going to Target, I learned my lesson.
(laughs) Then I have to get gas. I have a call that I'm gonna have to take in the car on the way, I'm just a mess. So after all the errands,
I ran into that same issue of what do I do with my kids? All right, well I've
just completely given up on the idea of going to the office today. It is one o'clock and they're hungry, so they need to be fed. I think we're gonna
try to do a drive-thru, which they'll be really excited about 'cause we don't do that very often. And it's reasonable, it's
within my budget for this week, so that's what we're gonna do. I would love a nap. And a bath. I decided to work from
home the rest of the day because, like I said, my
company is very flexible with the fact that I'm a parent. They're very understanding and it's not something
I like to do regularly, but it's something that they allow me to do if I absolutely need to. So while I had the luxury
of working from home, actually getting the work done was a whole different story because. So rainy, the kids can
not play outside today. Can you guys just give me five minutes to get my work done, please? Please, Jackson, please? I feel like I'm going to lose
it because I'm just trying to get a little work done and I hear banging and crashing in
their room, and they have. Managed to completely empty their closet and dump everything on the floor. And now I have this on
top of all the other mess. It was a frustrating day. Day four, was a great day. Started off with Wyatt not
cooperating with me at all. You're not listening to me. I asked you to sit down
at the table, please. Wyatt? Wyatt. I realized that in my rush
to get ready this morning and accessorize with this necklace and actually get dressed,
I forgot my purse. I'm such a dummy, like I'm the
biggest dodo on the planet. Who forgets their purse? I'm really nervous about
driving without a license. Nick is gonna drive my car. (sighs)
- Yes. - 'Cause he's the best
friend in the entire world, and this is what friends are for and it takes a village,
especially this week. - I hear that. (laughs) - We are home! (Wyatt crying) So that night, it was Wyatt
versus chicken nuggets. He's not happy about my dinner choice that I threw in the oven today. (Wyatt crying) But, you know what, he can deal with it, because that's what I'm
making, because it's easy and that's what we have and that's it. Do you like chicken nuggets? - Yeah. - Wyatt, you'll learn
to love chicken nuggets. He actually likes them, he just doesn't like them
'cause I said I'm making them. So, day five, I realized
that I was starting to get a little bit touched out. Now this is something that
happens when you have kids and it's something you have to adjust to is just being constantly touched. And without Matt there to
kind of take half the touches, it was all me, I just had
two kids piling on top of me. It's like one will plank on my chest, and one takes the arm,
there is no other way. And they will fight each other for more real estate of my body to touch. So day five, it was starting
to wear on me a little bit. I decided to start the
day with a little treat, we had a little money in our budget to get something inexpensive,
to go out to eat, so I took them out for breakfast. So we got bagels and
I got a little coffee, and I took them to this coffee place that I know has some toys where they can kind of run around and build blocks, and do a bunch of stuff
and get out some energy. Because, we had to make
another Target trip that day. (blocks crashing) So we got in and Wyatt,
because of his age, kids that age will get
fixated on something and just not be able to let go of it. So, that Target run, it was I want boxers. (laughs) You wear a diaper still kid, come on. It started with I want boxers and then throughout the trip it turned into I want boxers and then by the time we were checking out it was. (Wyatt crying) And then in the parking
lot, it just got even worse. (Wyatt crying) All right, let's go to the car. All right, come on, come on. My approach to parenting
and melt-downs is always to treat them with love because I feel like, at
Wyatt's age, he's three and he, he doesn't understand. But, sometimes it just doesn't work and sometimes nothing works. You just have to ride it out. And a lot of the time I see parents, you know, trying to get their errands done with a kid melting down in the cart, and other people are looking at them, like, "why don't you do
something about that," but sometimes doing
something makes it worse. That was one of those
meltdowns where I just had to. Not engage. (Wyatt crying) - [Jackson] Wyatt, would you please stop? - I don't know what to do. Now, I chose to film a few seconds of it, because I feel like
it's something very real that a lot of parents experience. So, while it was tough on Wyatt, and it's not a fun thing to watch, it was also really tough on me. It is taking all of my patience in my entire body to not
completely snap right now. So the morning of day six was pretty much the lowest point of the week for me. So, I don't know if you
guys can tell from my eyes, but I kind of had a little
meltdown last night. Kind of like, kind of lost it. Didn't shower, so I'm
trying to last-minute shower this morning, boys are fighting out there. But it just all got
overwhelming last night and I was just, like, I don't, it's only a week, you know. I should be able to do this
all by myself for a week. But it's just, there are
not enough hours in the day to get my job done and
then pick up the kids and do the rest of it. There are just not
enough hours in the day. And I need help, it's become so apparent. They don't.
(sighs) I don't know how to even
put this, I'm so tired. I have a harder time getting them to do stuff than Matt does,
and it's become very apparent. So I decided that day to
make a concerted effort to do better with the kids. What are we doing? (children talking) We're playing video games. - Yeah, I love playing games. (Wyatt talking)
- Because, sometimes. Yes, sometimes you need to
practice a little self care and distract your kids with
video games while you shower. You're doing great! - I'm not playing yet!
(Hannah laughs) - I mean, some parents
are against video games, but, to be honest, they don't
really know how to play them. So they just, like, click a couple buttons and they think they're doing something and they're really happy with it. How do you feel about this Wyatt, ready? Ready? (childish babbling) - [Jackson] What?
(all laughing) So, day seven, last day, was a good day. It was not raining, so we
whipped out the boys little, land speeder that they can drive, and I sat outside and
let them drive around for a really long time. And then I also got them
this really awesome toy. We have a rare moment of peace and quiet. I got the boys some rocks. - I'm loving this!
- I got one! - Oh, you got something! They're digging for crystals,
it was this little rock kit, and it was about $6. Best money I've ever spent. So I had them put on their
PJ's and get ready for bed, and right before they went
to bed, Matt came home! - Hey! - [Hannah] Look who's here! Daddy's here! All right! I, we had a great week. - Hey!
- I will see you next week. Goodbye, guys. - Bye.
- Bye. (laughing)
- Oh, man, I'm ready to, I'm ready to go to Mexico. I did miss you. - [Matt] Aww, just a little bit? - I'm glad you're back. - Hi. - Thank you for coming back. - [Matt] I almost didn't. (laughs)
- I don't blame you. So what did I learn this week? I tried to make things as
hard on myself as possible for this whole week, but I fully recognize that I only scratched the surface. I'm doing this already in
a career that I've achieved because I had a partner help
me while raising our children. I'm already at an advantage with that and that's something I
couldn't change or take away. While I was juggling my job and both kids, I realized that most
single moms have two jobs or two jobs and they're
going to school full time, or they're just going to school full time and trying to figure out
how to pay for everything. I didn't even remotely experience how difficult it actually is. So by me doing this for a week,
and you guys watching this, I hope that there's a
little more understanding of how hard it is and how hard
it can be for single moms. I also learned that my kids
are a lot more resilient and a mature than I thought. Jackson really stepped up
that week as a six-year-old and as my oldest to really
take responsibility for himself and help out as much as
he could with his brother. Thank you for helping me. - You're welcome. - He's really empathetic and
so when I'm having a hard time, he really notices. - Sorry for not behaving. - I love you. - I love you too. - Sorry I'm having a hard time today. - It's okay. - Okay. And last, I realized that
sometimes it's embarrassing to ask for help, and if you have a
single parent in your life, my suggestion would be to offer help. I found myself not asking
for help so many times throughout the week
because I felt embarrassed and I didn't want to burden people, and I feel like that
happens a lot with parents. It's up to us to proactively offer help, and find little things
that we can just do. Maybe it's just taking the
kids for an hour to the park while the parent takes a nap. Just little things will
make all the difference, and it's really on us
to help each other out. So that's all I've got for today. I'm Hannah, and if you
are a single parent, let us know in the comments, and let us know what we can do to help. Or, if you know a single parent, or you were raised by a single parent, shout them out in the comments
or you can always text me. This is a real number and I
do read every single text. Now, if you'll please excuse
me, I have a week's worth of laundry left to finish and I feel like I'm gonna lose my mind. 'Til next time! (playful music) Why is there a Christmas sweater in here? Nobody wore this!
(laughs)
