This is the story of 35-year-old Melbourne single dad Tyrell Moore and his 10-year-old daughter Mariah, as told to Corrine Barraclough.
“I’ve been the primary residential parent for my daughter, Mariah, since she was 28 months old. We left my violent partner and ended up homeless after being rejected by all domestic violence shelters as they only accept women.
My ex currently has substantially supervised four-hour access, three times a fortnight.
Mariah loves Christmas! I’m an aboriginal man, and returning to my ancestral land is very important to me. Every second year we return to country to see family. Going home is always such a relief; as soon as we get there all the world’s stresses disappear.
We spend time with my mum, aunties, uncles and extended family. We all pitch tents in the backyard and Mariah gets to run around with about 20 kids. No wonder she loves it!
Unfortunately, the Santa cat is out of the bag. She found out last week who Santa really is - me! A friend of mine let it slip. She had an inkling anyway. She came and took my hand and said, 'Dad, I thought it was you. The writing on Santa’s gift tags looks exactly like yours!'
I never enjoyed Christmas until my daughter was born. Until you have a child you don’t know what unconditional love is. Since she was born, I’ve wanted to give her magic and hope each Christmas, and belief the world is a special place.
As all single parents know, money is tight. Life can be tough, so I like to make Christmas as special as I can for her.
Top Comments
Good on you. Having been a single parent, I thanks my hat off tonyou for your positive, committed, outlook on parenting. x
This was a lovely heartwarming read, thank you for sharing, you're doing a wonderful job!