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My Top 3 |
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by Jane Bear
Approximately 20-30% of children live in single parent homes since roughly 1970. However, the number varies from study to study and country to country. In the United States, being brought up by a single parent is not uncommon; studies showed that about three in ten children live in a single parent home.
Being a single parent may occur as the result of many things. Often, it is opted for by the parent (as in divorce, adoption, artificial insemination, surrogate motherhood, or extramarital pregnancy), and sometimes it is an unforeseeable occurrence (as in the death of one parent or abandonment by one parent).
The most common type of single parent home is one with a mother only. This is the most common because it is much easier for the father to get out of the circumstance. The mother has to give birth to the child and oftentimes this leaves them with more of a connection with the child. However, a single father home is the fastest growing type of family situation.
Single mothers have more difficult time providing for their families because women generally have lower paying jobs than men. Even if this is the case, they are more likely to nurture their children by telling them they love them, hugging them, and showing affection towards them.
Before, fathers just were not socialized to be primary caregivers, but now it is not so rare to see a father raising a child on his own. Men tend to have higher positions in the work force, which in turn gives them higher income. However, fathers often do not communicate as well with their children as mothers do.
Being a single parent inherently comes with challenges, when it is a single parent household, the single parent must wear several hats and do a great deal of tasks to keep the family together. Children raised in one parent homes have the opportunity to take more responsibility for the entire family’s well being than those with two parents to share the burdens of income earning and family care, making them independent, mature, resourceful, and responsible.
Due to the constraints of parenthood, the time is often spent between work and taking care of the children rather than going out with friends or dates. Single parents won’t have much time at all for yourself; in essence, your ’self’ will be all about the children.
Single parents have the unique opportunity to influence their child or children for good or ill, without the counterbalance of another parent. Fortunately, many children raised in a single parent home will report with admiration the extra effort made by their single parent Mom or Dad.
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