The Hits: Hats off to solo parenting

The Hits DJ's, Megan Banks and Adam Green.

I'm right in the middle of a life changing moment currently.

The absolute longest period of solo parenting I've had to do. And I must say I take my hat off to ALL the parents doing it solo in Hawke's Bay and around the world.

At least I would do if I could find my hat. It's lost. Like everything else in the family home that is transitioning to bachelor pad.

Now before I go on I must note this is not forced solo dad duty, just the unfortunate side effect of the girls trip of a lifetime.

But I don't know what it is about not having the wife here that makes a fundamental change from mild-mannered house husband to absolute caveman.

I cook the meals for our household, all year round, and when the family is complete it's roasts, veggies, meatloaf, mashed spud you know. The usual meat and veggies.

It becomes a free for all when she goes. We scramble to the fridge, three daughters and I, the seven leftover cocktail sausages are thrown on a plate with some slices of cheese, a carrot maybe a week past its best before, and, "What's that kids? You want pretzels?" Why not. Finish the dish quite nicely.

Do you know how often you have to brush a kid's hair to stop it from being a bird's nest? No? Neither.

We've embraced the nest in all its glory, and I wouldn't be surprised if we find a couple of sparrows when we finally buy detangler and a petrol-powered weedeater and work our way through.

Bedtime, it becomes fluid. Not so much a time hard and fast set in the daily routine, more a let's see how dad's feeling and we might be in bed at 5.30pm.

What do you mean you can read a clock... It's on... Super daylight-saving time. Ignore it children.

The hunter-gatherer instinct starts to kick in, bypassing the fresh fruit and vegetables and looking at the thickest steak available on the supermarket shelf. Pepper is basically a vegetable, right? It comes off a plant or something?

I begin to plan what we will do to get the house back in perfect shape, but the return of Mum isn't for a long time yet, by then, we may have given up hope and moved to the garage.

Yes, solo parents, I take my hat off to you, if I could just find the blimmin' thing!

Don't miss Adam Green and Megan Banks on The Hits Hawke's Bay from 6am to 9am, Monday to Friday.