It's 7:56 Wednesday morning, you're already 41 minutes late and still not dressed. Your 3-year-old daughter has dumped yet another cereal box onto the kitchen floor in search of its hidden prize, and she insists on wearing the same Princess Jasmine dress for the fourth day in a row. Then it's off to daycare for her and another day at the office for you. You get to work just as your first meeting of the day begins so you haven't missed a thing. Lucky for you, your employer is extremely understanding and knows you always get your work done. But despite the great work environment you have, there is always that little tinge of guilt and resentment tugging at you every time you leave your child in someone else's care. You know there are others like you out there, but you wonder how and if they manage things better than you do.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2000 there were 7.6 million single working moms and 2.2 million single working dads raising their children alone in the United States. And of the total 9.8 million single parent homes in this country, two million of them had at least one child under the age of 6. So how do single parents cope?

Single working parents have the unusual burden of knowing they are the sole financial, emotional and spiritual provider for their children. While it's almost impossible to do everything yourself, most moms feel as though they have to and have sacrificed everything from their career goals and personal time to make things work.

After her husband left, 38-year-old Kris Wilen Brown, a public relations director in Scottsdale, Ariz., had to make some serious changes in her professional life. "I went from a six-figure, executive-level, fast-paced job to a lower-salaried position with a smaller company," she says. Working five days a week from 8:30 to 5:30, Wilen Brown says it's challenging to be not only a working mom, but single, too.

"At the end of a long work-day I look forward to seeing my little one, because she really clears my mind," says Wilen Brown. "But it's also a little tough. So many times I just want to put my feet up and have a glass of wine, but there's no one there to help out. I have almost no time to myself, and because my daughter's at daycare more than she's with me – 50 hours per week – I rarely get a babysitter because I feel so guilty."

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