Kym Whitley's Wit, Wisdom: Why it Takes a Village
Mommyhood Matters recently spoke with comedienne Kim Whitley, who had some great advice for parents doing it solo.
"Build your village," the single mom said. "Get all your friends and cousins and family members and ask for help."
Whitley would know. The star suddenly became a parent when the young girl she was mentoring gave birth to a baby boy and chose Whitley as the guardian.
She recounted the story to CBN News: "When that opportunity came I was fearful and I had chills all over my body. I was like ‘I can't take a kid,’" Whitley shared. "I mean I can take a puppy, but I can't take a kid. But my parents were in town. And growing up we always had to go to college, get married first, then have children."
"My parents were like that and my mom and dad were like, 'Okay, baby girl, why don't you go get this baby. This is truly your last chance at happiness,'" she recalled.
"They were like, 'You don't have a man. It doesn't look like you got one coming,’" she said. "’Your eggs are old, boo. You better go get this baby.'”
Her parents stayed with her for three months.
"They were worried I was going to kill the baby,” Whitley said. “Okay, I didn't know how to bathe the baby or change the diapers, so they stayed with me."
"We always think we're super women and super men and we can do it all. No you can't. For the child -- ask your friends to help, not just to babysit,” she said. “Say 'Hey, I'm a single parent; I'm going to need you to help me with this child for the rest of my life.'"
That's good advice for all of us.
