In today’s society, there are more and more families that are being raised by a single parent, whether it’s a mother or father. In the world of political correctness we live in today, it’s frowned upon to say there’s anything wrong with a single parent household. Society views single fathers and mothers as strong willed people, and while they may be so, it’s be proven that a child growing up in a single parent household often times has negative outcomes. While in some situations single parenting cannot be avoided, a child growing up in a single parent household is affected in many different ways. It seems to be widely known that single parenting isn’t ideal. Most people have often heard the phrase “a child needs a mother and a father” or some variation of that phrase. Despite this, a lot of families either are composed of one parent and the children or else the child is shepherded back and forth between both parents. Despite the fact that this doesn’t seem to be “ideal” it’s happening more and more often. Perhaps one reason for this is that not everyone knows exactly how bad some of the ramifications of single parenting can be. For instance, a child that is the product of single parenting is twice as likely to drop out of high school, two and a half times as likely to be a teen mother, and 1.4 times as likely to be out of school or work as a child that grows up with both parents. Just those statistics are staggering enough that people should look for more ways around single
There is a plethora of reasons as to why single-parent households are toxic to a child’s future. Single parenthood has problematic consequences for children’s school performance at all levels in their educational career. Children who grew up with only one biological parent are twice as likely
Twenty-five percent of children are being raised by a single parent, eighty percent of which are single mothers yet only single dads seem to be able to support themselves well.
All across the globe, there are children growing up in single-parent households, and through some research
Did you know that more than one fourth of all children in the United States live with only one parent? Single parenting has become more common today than in the 1800s, when it was sometimes frowned upon. As the years have gone by, it has become easier and easier for women to become single parents. In the 1800’s if husbands died or abandoned their families, women had no choice but to work for extremely low and unfair wages. Today, most men and women are treated equal and receive equal wages making it easier for women to be single parents. This concept is shown in Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer through Aunt Polly in the 19th century, single parenting is also common today.
However, by rising to these challenges, custodial single parents develop significant strengths. The positive benefits of being a single parent are that the child receives a lesson in independence. The child sees how strong the one parent is at providing them with everything they need without having to depend on someone else. The parents are showing their children that it is possible to live on their own, have an enjoyable life and take care of others while doing so. The children will know that they are a priority to the parent. When there is a second parent around the house, it can be easy to put responsibility off on them, but when the children see how hard the parent is working for them, they will understand how important they are to their parent. (Dowd, 1997)
Families who have dealt with being a single parent typically see themselves being judged by other parents. For example, Jamie Rush a teen mom said "If he acts up, or if he falls over and bumps his head, I always think people are looking at me as if to say "It's because you're a teenager." (Rush 3). This shows that teen moms are trying their best and love their kids too. Schools are helping teenage single parents. Take the case of Jamie, after she gave birth to her son, she went to an alternative school with a built in daycare (Rush 1). This tells you that there is help for teens out there, but it's not always available to everyone. Socially speaking, one of the primary causes of single parents is because of one of the parent's death. Through research, we have found that the primary cause of single-parent households was because of parental death (Chamie 1). This proves that not all single-parent homes is because of teen pregnancies. As a result, there are many single parents struggling with being judged, or because of significant other's death. But there are schools, helping
Did you know 30% of children in the United States live in a single-parent household as of 2012? ( )Every year this number is on the rise and it is causing children everywhere to suffer. When children are raised in an environment with only one parent they can have less opportunities and less supervision than a child with two parents. Children should not be raised in single-parent households because it can lead to abuse from parents, violence in children and poverty.
Today, many households are headed by single women raising children, some with the presence or involvement of the father and others without. According to Vargas et al. (2016), parenting by a single mother is defined as a home sustained by a maternal caregiver for many reasons to include absence, neglect, divorce, or death of the other parent. According to Anderson (2002), half of American children at some point in their childhood will live in a household that’s being reared by a single parent, who is primarily the mother. Lowry (2005) uses the term “social disaster” when describing the epidemic of absenteeism of father from the household.
Exceptional hardships, challenges, or opportunities make me think of about a million things that have happened throughout my short twenty-one years of life. In today’s society, it is very common for a child to grow up in a home where one of the parents is absent. In most cases, it is usually the father that is not present, particularly in African American homes. “In the United States today, 16,334,000 children under age 18 live in single mother homes,” (Fluty 4). Single parent homes affect children psychology producing negative effects on the child’s esteem, behavior, as well as education. Fatherless homes also take a greater toile particularly on boys, rather than girls.
Past and present, children all over the world raised in a single parent household have been seen as “different”. Although it may seem hard to raise a kid all by yourself, in today’s society it has become a lot more common. In today’s world, kids grow up a lot more emotionally stable commonly, no matter having one or two parents to show them how to grow up and live a responsible, successful life. The situation that arises in most cases, presents a clear difference between children raised by two parents and those who are raised by a single parent. Do kids even need two parents in their life? Does the government give aid when the focus comes down to kids who need it, when they are raised by only one parent? When step-parents come into the picture,
“Single-parent families now constitute 30 percent of all families with minor children and are the most rapidly growing families in America” (as cited in Dowd, 1997). When people hear the term ‘single-parent’ they automatically think it means a person who is the legal guardian of a child or children. It is typical for a single-parent to be a woman, because the statistics on the proportion of the children who live with their mother is at 87 percent, while a small 13 percent live with their father (as cited in Dowd, 1997). Because of the diversity in household types, a common question has been asked several times. Which type is better? Raising a child in a single-parent household or a two-parent household?
as different. Being raised by only one parent seems impossible to many yet over the decades it has become more prevalent. In today’s society many children have grown up to become emotionally stable and successful whether they had one or two parents to show them the rocky path that life bestows upon all human beings. The problem lies in the difference of children raised by single parents versus children raised by both a mother and a father. Does a child need both parents? Does a young boy need a father figure around? Does the government provide help for single parents? What role do step-parents and step-siblings play? With much speculation, this topic has become a very intriguing argument. What people must understand is that properly raising a child does not rely on the structure of a family but should be more focused on the process or values that are taught to these children as they learn to mature. Children of single parents can be just as progressive with emotional, social and behavioral skills as those with two parents.
Summary: Singles mother hurt themselves and children by trying to show society that they are strong and that they can survive by their own. This source show us how kids can be affected in a bad way because of their mother status. When those women decide to bring to the family a new integrant, kids get hurt with their emotional and in their academy life as shown in this quote “ The more “transitions” experienced by a child — the arrival of a stepparent, a parental boyfriend or girlfriend, or a step- or half sibling — the more children are likely to have either emotional or academic problems, or both.” (Hymowitz, 2014)
Many children in today’s society have grown to become successful and mentally stable whether they had two parents, or one parent raise them. With everything in life it is never about quantity, but quality. This could apply to single parenting as well. As long as a parent create a stable and nurturing home their child will grow up to be a mature, hard working, independent, and loving adult. Family structure should not be the main focus when it comes to raising children, the focus should be on the values and life lessons that are taught to the child as they mature in life. Family structure in the last decade have change drastically. Children are being raised by same sex parents, grandparents, extended family, a single father, or a single
Especially in today’s society, it’s disturbingly common for a child to have to grow up in a single parent household, letting the consequences of this scenario internally destroy the child like a virus. The effects are usually the same, but the frequency of the effects shouldn’t deter the severity. Another misconstrued ideal about single parent households, is whether or not the “statistics” and the “studies” taken on these families is enough to summarize the general population. They aren’t. The same goes for the causes, but on a much more significant scale. The causes and effects of single parent households implied by the studies and statistics are all true, but there’s a much bigger story that can’t be accurately measured or recorded. What the numbers show, are what represent the average. The non-hispanic White race represents the average race, low class to poverty level, and women to gender. But, as can be seconded by most struggling families in this situation, “average” doesn’t describe “real.” There are some things that can’t be taken into account, and those are the things that affect the child the most.