hey hun i am a single mum, its not easy but its a hell of a lot easier than living with my XP(ex-partner) who has been diagnosed with bipolar and was abusive, i dont have to 'report' to anyone anymore, can choose my own parenting styles/routines, only hard thing ive found so far is when i and DD were both sick and i had nobody to help, lucky i live with housemates who have a DD too so they helped out...although if i was still with XP he wouldnt have helped either, but im sure with a supportive partner it wouldve been alot easier. but all in all i enjoy it! and remember if your XP puts his name as 'father' on the birth cert ur entitled to child support, and of course you will get good benefits from centrelink if ur a single mum. GL hun!! (good luck )