I'm not sure if every single one of us will admit to or even realizes it, but we get jealous. Ye Olde Jealousy Monster rears its ugly head every time we get into a relationship. Each time I see my son playing on the floor with my boyfriend, I want to say, "but, but...he's MY baby!!" and When I realized that it was causing me to lash out at my boyfriend, I decided it needed to be faced, dealt with, and stopped.

As a single parent, the one thing we fear, more than any other thing in the world, is losing our child/children. As single parents, we face more scrutiny from society, more flack for the way our children behave, and et cetera. Entering into a relationship, we all crave that One person who will love and adore our child/children as much as we do, and then some! But once we find that, we sometimes have issues letting our reigns slack a bit.

What to do?

For me, I had to sit down with my boyfriend and look him in the eyes and say, "I'm jealous." The look on his face was priceless. He thought it was another woman!! When I told him that it was my son, he did all he could not to laugh outright, as he hugged me. The simple act of my admitting my jealousy has done wonders, though. When it is Guy Time, they play together. But sometimes, he will look at my son and say, "How about we go see what Mommie's up to?" and they come spend time together With me, instead of leaving me out on the fringes. I don't feel left-out, we get more together time, and no one has a bent nose afterward.

It's been better for my son, as well. He sees that including others in playtime is not always such a bad deal! And, as a family, this allows for growth, instead of creating a rift that might do irrepairable damage.

So...tell me...are you as jealous as I was?