I moved from California to Portugal as a single mom of 2. Here people actually care about kids.

Courtesy of the author

• Aisha Canfield is a single mom of two daughters aged 6 years and 22 months
• She moved from California, to Lisbon, Portugal in August 2023.
• She says it's hard to parent in the US when there's so much individualism. 

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Aisha Canfield. It has been edited for length and clarity.

I had been playing with the idea...