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Single mom gives moving speech to daughter upset her father left the family.

Single parents are caretakers of their children's hearts in a unique way. When a separation or divorce befalls a family, the fallout can leave many parents struggling to pick up the pieces of their own broken hearts and their kids'.

Instagrammer and single mom Mely (@allthingsmely) shared a vulnerable video of how she's helping heal her young daughter's heart after her father left their family. During the tender conversation, her daughter expressed her sadness, and Mely reminds her of her love and worth while allowing space for her to express her emotions.

"To every mom healing little hearts while healing her own: you are not alone. I see you," she wrote in the video's caption. She added, "Being a solo mom is tender, exhausting and beautiful all at once and it’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done."

The video is taken in the family's bathroom after bath time, and Mely gets down on eye-level with her daughter who is wrapped in her robe and crying to her. Mely says to her in Spanish, "It's okay to feel sad. It's okay," she says. "But I want you to know that you are SO LOVED. You are special. You are worthy of time, love and respect. You are so worthy of it all. You are worthy of it simply because you exist. It's okay to be sad. And mommy will always be here. I love you."

At the end of the video, she hugs and kisses her daughter in a sweet embrace. In the video's caption, she shared more about the pain her daughter is feeling: "The ache of absence is something I carried in silence for years, trying to protect my kids from it. But now, it’s more visible than ever through the physical distance and indifference of someone who was supposed to love us, cherish us and protect us," she wrote.

While Mely is dealing with her own emotional pain from separation, she shares that, "I can only imagine how confusing and painful it must be for a child (especially a 4 year old) to feel like she’s not being chosen or fully adored. But I see her pain. I feel it too."

She adds that the reason she is sharing the video is so that "every single mama out there feels a little less alone in this journey," before ending the post with a powerful sentiment. "I pray my kids grow up knowing that their mom chose courage. That she knew her worth and walked away from a life of emotional neglect and betrayal. That they are worthy of a love that’s present, consistent and safe. And that their hearts deserve to be cherished every day of their lives."

The emotional video had many people expressing praise for Mely in the comments. "This is so beautiful 🥹 I don’t know who needed to hear this most, you or your little one ❤️🩹," one wrote. Another added, "I Love this!!!!! Every child needs their mother’s there for reassurance 🥺❤️🙏🏽✨🙌🏼🫶🏼🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹." And another touched viewer commented, "Remember this goes for you too Mama, heal the little girl in you 🥹🫶."

Family

Single dad taught himself to braid his daughter's hair. Now he helps other dads do the same.

The Daddy Daughter Hair Factory helps dads everywhere learn how to braid hair.

Image via YouTube video.

Dad gets the high-five for being a Dad, and it's great.

Philippe Morgese is a single dad with a daughter named Emma. She, like many children, happens to have hair.

Like most parents, Morgese is really hoping to do his part to make sure Emma becomes a fully-functioning and responsible member of society. He wants to make sure she grows up confident and well-adjusted. He also wants her to have a good male role model in her life. Ya know, like most of us dads do.

And he wants to make sure her hair looks nice. He didn't have any people in his life who knew how to braid hair, so he taught himself.


SCIENCE FACT: Actively involved fathers can have a huge impact on their kids' school performance.

Morgese got so good at hair braiding that he decided to start a class to help other dads.

SCIENCE FACT: The more a dad is involved in their kid's life, the more the dad's self-esteem increases.

The class got pretty popular over time. So much so that he ended up starting a Facebook page called the Daddy Daughter Hair Factory to help dads everywhere learn how to braid hair. He got a kid's haircare company, SoCozy, to sponsor the class. He even built an incredibly handy website where dads like me, who get horrifically dirty looks from their daughters every time they try to do hair, can learn how to do it correctly.

The class is about more than braiding hair though.

The classes are really about dads and daughters bonding and connecting.

They turn off their screens. They focus on being together. And they just hang out.

SCIENCE FACT: Dads who play with their kids can have a positive impact in their kids ability to have stable relationships later in life.


It's a win for everyone. Dads and daughters get to spend time with each other and they both get something out of it: new skills for dad and awesome hairstyles for their daughters.

I seriously can't wait to learn how to do the three-strand braid and the braided elastic coverup.

NON-SCIENCE FACT: I'm looking forward to the day I can make my daughter's hair look this good while not getting a raging death stare from her.

Watch Morgese and Emma show other dads how to braid hair in this Upworthy Original Video:

And feel free to share this with a dad in need.


This article originally appeared on 04.18.16


True
Minute Maid

Olivia Jones was just 3 years old when she lost her father, which broke her mom's heart on many levels.  

"One of the greatest regrets I have is that she didn’t get to use the word 'dad'," Olivia's mom, Janice, says.  

All photos via Minute Maid.


Suddenly, Janice was the sole breadwinner, but she lacked the degree to land a career that would allow her to maintain the status quo at home. So, after taking time to grieve, Janice went back to school.

"I needed to have a career with a future," Janice explains.

Going back to school while continuing to work and take care of Olivia was far from easy, but Janice refused to give up.

Eventually, she managed to provide for her family the way she wanted to but at a cost. Keeping up with school and work as a single parent meant she had to sacrifice time with Olivia.

Little did she know just how much Olivia recognized and appreciated all her mom's efforts.

“She was doing it to make a better life for us, which is incredible," Olivia says.

Check out the Joneses' full story:

Olivia wanted to do something special for her mom, so she started putting together a carefully curated care package.

Olivia Jones.

Her mom had been sending her care packages ever since she started college, so Olivia felt it was about time she return the favor.

She filled it with lots of fun little trinkets, cards that her mom sent during her first year at school, and family photos. She also wrote her a note thanking her for going above and beyond to give Olivia a steady life.

"Dear mom, I am so thankful to have you in my life. I can’t imagine how difficult it must’ve been while being a single mom. You played the role of both mom and dad. You were struggling to do so, but you never ever let me know or made me feel guilty. You allowed me to be a child. I don’t know who or where I would be without you. I love you, and just know that you are the best mom anyone could hope for. Love, Olivia."

If that wasn't enough to get her mom crying, Olivia's reverse care package also came with a special, unexpected surprise.

Olivia hugging her mom.

Some things don't fit in boxes.

Janice and Olivia's story reminds us that single parents are amazing, and it's important to celebrate them once in a while.

They may not always get it right, and disappointments along the way are inevitable, but parents like Janice prove they'll go the distance to keep their kids healthy, happy, and safe. In that way, they're like superheroes, and Olivia certainly sees the proverbial cape her mom wears.

Hopefully the beautiful way she showed her appreciation for her mom will inspire other kids of single parents to do the same.

"I don’t know who or where I would be without you. I love you, and just know that you are the best mom anyone could hope for."

True
#WhoWeAre

Meet Bonnie Brown. She's a single mother who works at Wendy's to help support her teenaged daughter. She also has a disability.

Recently, Bonnie was interviewed by her 15-year-old daughter, Myra, for a StoryCorps video where she opened up about what it's like to be a single parent who is intellectually disabled.

Amazingly, this conversation manages to put that sometimes indescribable bond between a mother and her daughter into words. It also highlights the protective nature of their relationship.


"There were times when we would go out, and people would just blatantly stare, and I would say something," Myra says in the video.

Every mother-daughter relationship has its ups and down, of course, just like any other relationship. But for this pair, Bonnie's disability is just one of the things that makes up who they are. We all have stuff to carry, and this is something they both carry, together.

Watch the moving conversation between this mother and her daughter in the video below: