Pammy W

Growing up my mother was a single parent back in the early 1970's when there was a lot of shame around it.

The rest of our family were very well off and we were the poorest. This impacted on never feeling good enough and not having the fancy cars and houses they had. When going round to visit I would hear comments about me and my mother that were not very nice. Such as comments on our size, what we were wearing etc. They did not help my mother just criticized us. Even now, this still impacts me and I often will feel not good enough or dressed well enough etc when going places.

Bringing it back to the present day (2024) I have to limit the time I can go and see my grandson and my middle daughter has they live 2 hours drive away which costs a lot in petrol. I am hoping to move closer to them in a few years time so I don't miss out on my Grandson's life.

My son left home last year and often will ask me to pay his bills and food has he is struggling. He also has a drug addiction which puts great pressure on me has he has asked for money for drugs and stole off me before.

I often feel like I am the family member holding everything together and this can be exhausting. I work 2 jobs myself and do a lot of charity work but it never seems to be enough.