In cased you’ve missed it, between the countless op-ed pieces and numerous sets of statistics being thrown around, single motherhood is on the rise. More than 50 percent of of kids born to women under the age of 30 are born to single moms. I promise, that’s the only statistic I’m going to throw at you.

This weekend, Katie Roiphe wrote a piece in the New York Times entitled, “In Defense of Single Motherhood.” Since I just gave my own feelings on being a single mommy earlier this week, I thought I would take this opportunity to give everyone a short lesson in appropriate conversation starters with single moms.

Like with any other parent on the planet, making wide, sweeping assumptions about a single mom based on a media narrative or a couple of research studies is sure to be more than a little offensive. Moms, whether they’re married or not, are individuals. We’re all different. And yet, these tired prejudices always find a way to worm back into the conversation when it comes to single moms.