YAMOAH-MANUH: PROVIDED; DAISY: NADYA SO; CHRYSANTHEMUMS: IRINA KARNISHEVA/ISTOCK;
LANDSCAPE: DIANE555/DIGITALVISION VECTORS/GETTY IMAGES PLUS
that I could really trust with my daughter.”
Over a decade later, Bailey, 45 and living
in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, and Yamoah-
Manuh are still friends and see each other
about once a month. Though their journeys
have taken them in different directions,
their similarities in motherhood have kept
them intertwined. Both women have been
single mothers twice, with two sets of kids
about a decade apart: Bailey has a 5-year-
old son, Lee, and Yamoah-Manuh a set of
6-year-old twins, Laila and Lila.

As Mother’s Day approaches, these two
parents are reflecting on their paths as
single mothers.

What has been the importance of
finding support in community as
a single mother?
Yamoah-Manuh: It’s just playing that role
of auntie, just being able to have someone
to talk to or just for babysitting reasons,
or just to be able to have playdates and
have your kids be around other kids in
other environments that you trust because
there’s so much going on in the world
now….You have to be aware of what type
of people [are] around the kids—whether
they’re smoking, drinking, how they’re
dressing [and], of course, child predators.

There’s just so much in the world that
being a single parent, you have to be ultra-
aware of what’s going on in wherever your
kids are going to be.

16 Washington FAMILY MAY 2023
Lonyetta Yamoah-Manuh
with her
daughters, Laila and Lila.

Bailey: It’s also cost-saving; you know
where your children are; you are famil-
iar with the family, the mom; and it also
feels good to help others who are in an
alike situation.

What has been a difference
between being a single mother for
the first versus second time?
Yamoah-Manuh: With the twins, I already
know the importance of having those
friend groups and making sure that, even
if you don’t have the family support, that it
is important to have those friends that you
can depend on and that you could talk to,
even if they can’t be your weekender, your
weekend mom. You can still talk to them
and vent, and get things off your chest, and
bounce ideas off and just be an adult with
[them] — because we’re around our kids so
much that we don’t get that outlet.