Single Parents’ Day Sunday

MANITOU SPRINGS – Sunday marked 27 years since Janice Moglen founded Single Parents’ Day. At the time, she was living in Washington, D.C.with her two children. She moved to Colorado in 1990–in time to see it become the first state to proclaim March 21 for the day.

Single parents gathered at Retro Moto Toys in Manitou Springs, and at Little Richard’s Restaurant in Colorado Springs to meet and share experiences. Moglen says the day creates “a circle of caring people” and helps them realize they are not alone as single parents.

“We just don’t want it to be a greeting card holiday,” she explains. “We’d like people to baby-sit, bring a dinner to a single parent, and help a single parent. People come out and say they were raised by single parents now. They didn’t say that 15 or 20 years ago.”

Brandon Lee Richardson brought his son Shane to the event. “Just let them know it’s not bad when you’re alone,” he says about helping children cope with the absence of a parent. “You’ve just got to keep loving.”

Shane agrees. “He really loves me, and I love him, too.”

Jennifer Christie brought her two daughters after reading about the event in a newspaper Sunday morning. “You don’t know who single parents are, because no one’s wearing a T-short saying Single Parent. But they’re around. So this way, you can find them.”

However, Christie hopes for better. “I’d still like to have a father for my girls… someday.”

Moglen hopes that Single Parents’ Day will become equal to Fathers’ Day and Mothers’ Day. She also wants to change the day from March 21 to the third Sunday of that month. Here’s more information about the day.