Quality Time with Your Kids as a Single Parent

Quality Time with Your Kids as a Single Parent

From Solo Parent by Solo Parent

March 30, 2026 · 37 min

About this episode

The episode discusses the challenges of connecting with kids as a single parent and how to overcome emotional barriers to quality time.

This week we're discussing Quality Time with Your Kids as a Single Parent You were there. Physically on the floor, in the room, at the table. And yet somewhere between the Legos and the dinner cleanup, you realized your mind had been somewhere else the entire time. That feeling, of showing up but not quite arriving, is one of the hardest parts of solo parenting to talk about because it carries so much guilt with it. Robert Beeson, Founder and CEO of Solo Parent, sits down with Elizabeth Cole, single parent and co-host, and Amber Fuller, a counselor with a Master's in Marriage and Family Therapy (MMFT) and single parent, to get honest about why real connection with your kids can feel so hard to access, and what it actually takes to close that gap without overhauling your life. This conversation names the pressures most solo parents feel but rarely say out loud. Feeling physically present with your kids but emotionally somewhere else entirely, and not knowing how to fix it. Believing quality time has to look a certain way, and carrying the weight of falling short of that picture. Not knowing how to build genuine connection when your schedule, your energy, and your emotional…

People in this episode

Host: Robert Beeson

Guests: Elizabeth Cole, Amber Fuller

Topics covered

  • quality time
  • single parenting
  • emotional connection
  • parenting challenges
  • guilt
  • presence

Keywords

  • single parent
  • quality time
  • emotional presence
  • parenting guilt
  • connection
  • family therapy

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Solo Parent

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