Facts About Single Parents
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Unfortunately, single parenting has seemingly become an acceptable norm. There were over 20 million single parents in the United States in the year 2000 according to the US Census Bureau. Certainly, the worldwide number of people who are challenged with single parenting is exponentially higher.
Single parenting can be the result of a voluntary decision, such as those women who choose to have a child by artificial insemination and those unmarried persons who adopt children. Women who become pregnant outside of marriage, or those parents who are widowed, divorced, or simply deserted by their spouses are all single parents.
More of single parent homes are female than male. The reason for this is that mothers are the one who gave birth to the child, so the mother and child have a stronger connection than with the fathers. But whatever the sex of the parent, parenting alone raises some unique challenges.
The problem being faced by a family headed by a woman is that the women’s social position in society is still weaker than that of the men. Single mothers have to deal with the gender-based limitations of gaining employment, and they also have to cope with a demanding family. But in spite of this, females are known for being more emotional and show these emotions more often than men and they are more likely to nurture their children.
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.
Because of the demands of single parenthood, single parents have a harder time dating others. Childcare must be arranged and there simply is limited time to spend dating and hanging out with friends. This would cause some single parents to be angry and feel left out of the “adult world”.
Single parenthood can have advantages, even in the light of tough situation. You can establish rules and guidelines in a more straightforward manner, since there is no partner to consult or with whom to debate. There are many successful single parent families out there today and certainly, you can be one of them with some effort.
