Single Parents – Bronny's Books

Four Girls and a Motorhome poster artwork

Four Girls and a Motorhome and Bronny

Posted on March 26, 2018 | by Bronny

It’s been a while between posts and that’s because Bronny has been busy turning her hand to write for screen. Like most writers Bronny has worked across genres and a couple of years ago now wrote a feature film called Four Girls and a Motorhome. This film has been picked up and is being produced by 222 Pictures in the USA and Running Panda Films and Little Train Creative in Australia. It’s a rom-com, road trip. A hilarious romp through Australian culture from the city to the beach to the desert. It has boho babes, hot corporate type guys, bad boys, bikies, surfies and loveable Australian characters. If you want to follow the journey come and say hi at our Facebook page.

Bronny has more projects she is working on including a television series, a second original feature and rewriting another feature. While this all keeps her really busy there is nothing that will stop her launching My Super Soul Dad, an homage to all the step dads out there.

And of course, Mother’s Day is just around the corner, a day to celebrate all the mums. You might like My Two Super Mums, My Super Single Mum or My Super Groovy Gran for the mum in your life.

But back to Four Girls and a Motorhome! Wondering what it’s all about? Well, this is the new type of chick flick, a rom-com roadtrip film where our heroine learns to love herself and not a man. The film tells the story of unlucky in love and life Sadie, orphaned by her National Geographic photographer parents at a young age she bounces from job to man looking to fill the gap. After another failed romance and job Sadie and her best friend Zoe set off on an epic road trip adventure in an aging motorhome to attend the wedding of childhood friend Annie in Coober Pedy.

Joining them on the trip are Zoe’s daughter Lulu, a ten year old bean sprout, and the result of a University affair with visiting African American Professor James. Auntie Margaret who stepped in to raise Sadie after the loss of her parents completes the four girls ensemble. Adding to the roadtrip adventure is Harpo, Auntie Margaret’s lovable toy poodle.

As the girls take off on their adventure, what results is a traipse through Aussie culture. From shaggin wagons, to surfies, to bikies, to stereotypical Aussie caravan park owners, pathological lying ex army creeps and other wedding guests also roadtripping to Coober Pedy. One of these characters is the handsome Liam; a successful advertising agency director smarting after his model wife has dumped him. Four Girls has it all, it’s Priscilla Queen of the Desert meets Muriels Wedding meets How to be Single. Aussie audiences will relate to Four Girls with all its Australian humour and have them laughing in the aisles as they see a bit of themselves in each of the characters.

Stop Calling Yourself A Single Parent

Posted on February 24, 2015 | by Bronny

I am not a married parent! It's just me and this divine child and we're very happy thanks! — I am not a married parent! It’s just me and this divine child and we’re very happy thanks!

Do you know what get’s my goat. And I’m talking, instant anger, flare up, nostrils splay out, lips become a thin line, brow furrows and my fingers instantly want to tap furiously onto something to get my feelings out. It’s when partnered women cry ‘single parent’.

Yes, I hear you all now, and yes this is a direct response to Amelia Mitchell from the iVillage article ‘I’m a single mum, Monday to Friday’. Here you all go, I’m pushing the soapbox forward for you all, so form an orderly line. “Stop judging her”, “maybe she does feel single”, “she has her side to the story”, “but her husband does work all the time” “She never sees him and he never sees them”.

To all of that I have one word “choice”. We all as conscious human beings have to some degree a level of choice in our lives. If you choose not to exercise it – to play slave to the money god then yes – probably you will lead a life like that and get to 40 something and wonder why you don’t remember your now suddenly teenaged progeny’s childhood. So please, don’t cry ‘single parent’ just because your partner works long hours or away. The fact is, you’re not a single parent and you would have no idea of what it is actually really truly like to be a single parent.

Firstly, when people say this, they are insinuating that being a single parent or ‘mother’ (as this article suggests) is a bad thing. Well excuse me, but don’t lump yourself into my life as if being a single parent is a chore. It is in fact a joyous experience for me. I love being a mother and I love being a single mother. There are many wonderful upsides that nobody seems to talk about. Number 1 being I don’t have to share. Which is great, because I never liked sharing as a child anyway. Secondly, I don’t have to discuss my child’s education, medical, emotional or any other kind of decisions with anyone; I can do as I please. It’s me raising her 100% and she is happy, well adjusted emotionally, physically healthy and thriving. Reading at a grade 3 level in fact. Must have been all those horrible nights I read her books all on my lonesome before she went to sleep. I hope you’re getting the sarcasm there.

The fact is this; I think these people who cry ‘single parent’ simply miss their partner. They wish they were around more, but let’s get one thing straight. Their partner is around. They’re at the end of the phone, a Skype conversation away, a text message during the day. Their partners do come home, whether it’s late or not. They do eventually go on holidays together and enjoy family time and when they do – I bet it’s precious, because they had to wait for it.

So I’m going to ask a few very simple questions to really get my point across. Have a think about the answers before you prepare to sledge me for my opinion.

1. Would you call yourself gay if you were not gay?
2. Would you call yourself a man if you were a woman?
3. Would you call yourself the Pope of Rome, even, if in fact, you were not the Pope of Rome.

Then why on earth do you insist on calling yourself a single parent when you’re not? I could go on about financial responsibility of the single parent, how we don’t have anyone else to rely on and more, how we don’t remember how date night is supposed to work and more. But really, it all comes down to this. When people complain they are a single parent, they are saying it like it is a bad thing. And for most of us single parents that is an insult, because most of us are perfectly happy. In fact, most of us are much happier than we were when we were complaining about our partner never being home.

I suggest people start seeing the glass as half full and stop complaining about how hard they have it. I find a quick visit to any children’s hospital usually puts one’s problem’s quickly into perspective. Here’s another option. Perhaps as a family choose to stop being a slave to the dollar, downsize, work less, be together more. What’s funny is that people would rather whine about how hard they have it, than see the good in what they do have.

The irony in all this is that I as a single parent probably have more in common with the absent parent in this scenario. I’m up early, drop my daughter at before school care, I work a long day and it’s after 6pm by the time I collect her and get home to do anything that resembles what a stay at home mum does. But you know what. That’s my choice. And I only do it 3 days a week because then the other 5 I can do whatever I want – which includes not being a slave to what society thinks I should or could be doing with my life.

I am single parent and I love it. Time to embrace the good in life. Don’t you think?

Bronny and Muntsa go to Melbourne Writer’s Festival

Posted on August 19, 2013 | by Bronny

August brings with it an exciting and fun opportunity for Melbourne readers, writers
and book lovers, especially Bronny and Muntsa who celebrate the Melbourne Writer’s Festival. The festival showcases a variety of authors and industry figures from an array
of different creative endeavors and backgrounds.

Here at Bronny and Muntsa we are very excited to see that the festival is hosting
a number of events which are themed around Children’s books. One such event is hosted by Jane Godwin, a writer of several successful children’s stories along with illustrative collaborator Anna Walker. Together they will share some of their stories and as well as explore different and creative ways to create them. This event will be held on Saturday the 24^thof August at 11:00AM.

Another fun event will feature one of the most established names in Australian
children’s fiction: Morris Gleitzman. Along with fellow children’s author
Deborah Ellis, Glietzman will be discussing, among other things, where they
draw the line in conveying to children what the world can be like. This event
will be held on Sunday the 25^th of August at 10:00AM.

Children’s stories mark most children’s first taste of fiction and begin to
open up their imaginations in all kinds of new and fantastic ways. It builds
the foundations upon which our children begin to build understandings of storytelling. It is for that reason that we here at Bronny and Muntsa are so thrilled to see that the MWF is featuring events themed
around children’s stories.

Super Single Families Facing Tough Changes in Australia

Posted on March 18, 2013 | by Bronny | 1 Comment

When you’re walking down the street and see an adult with a child; do you ever wonder if it’s a single parent family, single mum, single dad, maybe two dads or even another alternate family situation? It can be very easy to assume that the large majority of families in Australia are the typical statistic that springs to most people’s minds; two working parents with 2.5 children.

Did you know (according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics as of June 2011 Australia) single parent families account for 950,000 homes in Australia with single mums making up the majority! Staggering isn’t it? Considering that we are a population of 12 million this is nearly 1 million homes in Australia with only 1 parent.

As you are probably aware, key to the My Super Family children’s book series (My Super Single Mum, My Two Super Dads, and My Super Groovy Gran) is communicating the values of love, safety and security. We care about promoting healthy relationships in single parent families, blended families, and all other types of families hence why we decided to produce the series of books. We just love it when we get feedback from mums and dads who have bought our books, just like this;

Hi Bronny & Muntsa,

Just wanted to send a big thank you for writing such a beautiful book! So many children’s books out there are aimed at the more typical family unit, it’s nice to know that someone is out there thinking about the less ordinary.

I admit I actually cried reading it, and even though it’s just me and my son (rather than Mother and daughter) I think my son will get a lot out of reading it with me (he’s 4), especially as his Father unfortunately has had no part of his life and has never met his son. As well, my family do not have a big part in our lives so it really is just me and him. I can’t wait to show him it, so much so I won’t be waiting for Xmas, but look forward to reading it to him tonight.

Thanks,
Nyssa
♥ ♥ ♥

Parents in nuclear families find it tricky to juggle work commitments and quality time with their kids, but imagine how much harder this is for single parent families! Many single parent families in Australia are struggling with the new laws about family benefits. Basically, when your youngest child turns 8, single parents are no longer eligible for the Single Parent Pension, this means they must transfer to New Start and start looking for work. This sounds great in theory, but with only one person sharing the care and still with young children (imagine if it’s only 1 child) most of the money earned goes towards childcare anyway, and all of a sudden someone else (not the best option) is raising your child. Yes, we hear you now! What about a nanny? What about relatives? It can be tricky finding a good nanny – not to mention expensive! Do you really think a single parent can afford one? Most can’t! And, after all, you’re putting your child’s welfare into their hands, and entrusting them with what is most important in your life; it’s a BIG burden of trust to hand over, and it’s difficult to do willingly. Also, not everyone has got relatives that live nearby, so taking your child over to Gran or Pop’s is often out of the question.

This doesn’t cut a fair deal for single parent families, who giving up precious time with their child/ren to earn money to pay another person to do what they’d willingly do if only they could, while instead they’re trying to make money to support them. In this, the importance of government support for single families can be seen. As a result, a stable future for many single families lies in the hands of Australia’s future policy makers. The take home message from the family behind My Super Family children’s book series is that parenting, regardless of your family make up, is not always easy; it has its ups and downs just like life, and that making some decisions carefully can help smooth out some of the bigger bumps in the road, and help other families as well as your own keep on being super! And remember, the most important family values you can ever promote, whatever your makeup is that of love, safety and security.

The Reason We Do What We Do

Posted on January 9, 2013 | by Bronny | 1 Comment

People have asked me from time to time ‘why did you choose to write books about different types of families Bronny’. It’s fairly simple, I decided to start with this particular topic because their was nothing available for my own child about our family situation.

As you probably already know, I went through pregnancy on my own and after looking for books about single mother situations I couldn’t find any that actually used the words ‘single mum’. You see I wanted children to identify with this type of family and to then feel that it was normal – which it is!

If you look at Sensis statistics in Australia you can see that single parent families, blended families and other types of families that are not mum, dad and 2.5 kids make up close to 50% of families!

With that in mind, I wanted to share with you some feedback I received from one of our readers in the USA. After sending My Two Super Dads express post before Christmas it was with surprise that I received a note asking when the book would arrive! Whilst I was in the process of locating the book, I sent a digital copy hoping this would at least be something until I tracked down Australia Post. In between me doing all of this the hard copy of the book arrived and I received the following lovely email, I hope you find it as charming as I did ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
“Hi Bronny,

Thank you so much for your reply!

I wanted to let you know that the mailman delivered the book today! (If only I’d waited two days before writing…) I’m sorry if we put you to a lot of trouble.

I did want to thank you for sending the digital copy. You should have seen my wife’s face, she was elated. 😀 Yours is the first two fathers book she ever bought sight unseen (usually she gets them through the library first) but she was so charmed by the sample and cover on the website that she couldn’t resist. We both thought it was marvelous and are so pleased to have the hardcopy in hand.

Thank you for the beautiful art and wonderful message you put out into the world with your books.

Evin”

To all my readers a massive thank you and please do as Evin did, get in touch and let me know if you love the books! I have now finished writing My Super Single Dad and Muntsa has begun work on the illustrations. We can’t wait to bring you this next installment in our My Super Family series and want all of you out their to remember you really are SUPER!