The purpose of this paper is to express the advantages and disadvantages of single parent homes. As compared to over forty to fifty years ago, single-parent families are common in today’s world. A single parent is a parent with one or more children, who is not living with any of the children’s other parents. The percentage of children who live with two parents has been declining among all racial and ethnic groups throughout the years. It has been found that children in single-parent homes generally fare worse than those in homes with two parents. In today’s single parent households there are many advantages and disadvantages. Even after you weigh the single parenting pros and cons you will see that the disadvantages of single parenting …show more content…
The effects of coming from a low income family can include things like lower education levels, lower economic achievement and can result in leaving the child feeling isolated and lonely. It would appear that being a part of a single-parent household indicates a negative family environment. It should be said however that many single parent families find a balance and successfully thrive in today’s world. Single parents often worry that their children will somehow be damaged from living in a single parent family. While a single parent family may not be the ideal situation for raising children, many two parent families are also less than desirable. Kids can actually benefit from living in a single parent family. A home filled with conflict is the least desirable home environment for children. When the child’s prior two parent household included frequent fighting between the adults the child can benefit from living in one parent home provided that the conflict is stopped. Children observe adult relationships and usually apply what they have learned to their own relationships as adults. By residing with only one parent, the child may actually have a chance to observe healthier adult relationships. Children learn valuable lessons from dealing with hard times and having a difficult lifestyle from many of their peers. A single parent may actually have more time
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
All across the globe, there are children growing up in single-parent households, and through some research
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)
In 2002, number of children living with their single parent was 16.5 million (Davidson). The most important thing is that each single-parent family is different from the other. Children who live with a widowed mother will definitely be living a different home life from children with divorced parents or the one whose parents were never married. Children of the parents who were divorced will always have some kind of relationship with parents and parents’ partners. But it is obvious that children from single-parent families face tougher times economically as well as
Some of the negative effects on a child being raised in a single parent home can be seen in the early years of their development. The child can start to feel infer to other children around them who have both parents present. These feelings of inferiority can stay with a child all the way to adulthood later in life. This negative impact can harm their ability to gain confidence leading to poor work in school and work later in life. The child will also feel neglected which can make it hard for them understand forming relationships with other people. This affects their understanding of how to act with other on a social basis during a critical time in their development. Also due to a parent needing to work longer hours to make up for the missing half of the house the child will not see them often. Missing parental presence can lead to very poor care of that child to the point that their health also goes into decline.
Single parent vs. two parent homes and the effect it has on their child’s viability, intimacy and conflict in their intimate relationships.
In this article, Arland goes over some questions that single parents may have and suggest helpful ways to cope. He also includes a paper that gives very interesting research about the long-term developments about the important values and beliefs in a single parent family. Some questions have also risen concerning this topic for example, what are the reasons for different trends in these types of families.
Through many years, children growing up in single family homes has been discovered as problems. “At first glance, defending single mothers and their children. Raised by a strong and resourceful single mother, I turned out OK” (Wilcox). Being raised up with one parent seems to be stressful and impossible, but for decades its become possible to happen. In the society today, there are children growing up overcoming emotional stages and achieving their goals whether if they have both parents to show them difficult paths in their life that they will overcome as a growing human being. The problems that occurs within raising a child in a single family home compared to a married home can be different or the same depending on the disciplinary actions. There are many questions asked, does a child need both parent figures to be raised? Does a son need a father figure, does a daughter need a mother figure? Among all the questions asked, is there a person taking care the main responsible with much undertaking, on the single parenting topic it has become an interesting argument. People need to be more informed with raising a child. Raising a child does not rely on the structure of a family, it is more to how a parent is discipline and having a proper process of teaching their child with learning how to be mature and respectful. Children of a single home can be progressive with the same emotional, social able, and interactive behavioral skills that is raised with both parents.
It is not uncommon for a child in today’s society to be raised in a single-parent household Compared to peers in intact families, adolescents in single-parent families and stepfamilies seem more likely to engage in delinquency as I research. This relationship appears to be operating through differences in family processes parental involvement, supervision, monitoring, and parent child closeness—between intact and non-intact families and peers living in traditional intact families (two married-biological parents), youths living in two-biological-parent blended families, two biological- parent cohabiting families, biological mother- stepfather families, biological-mother cohabiting partner families, biological-mother only families, biological father-cohabiting partner families, biological-father-only families, grandparent only families, and foster families engaged, on average, in higher levels of antisocial behavior.
Growing up in a single parent household can affect your life in many different aspects, for instance how you view relationships, how you support yourself, and your future. I grew up in a single parent household and I understand the struggle of trying to provide for five children on a single income. When you just have one parent that must be the mom and the dad for the family it can get very difficult on some days. For instance, when you and your siblings have different things that you must do the same day. My grandparents had to help most of the time because my mom had to work and she could not be everywhere that she need to be.
One of the studies show how single parenthood can be bad for a child, but also can a two-parent home with a no financial problems but stress and conflict between the pair can be as or even more destructive to a child. “A two parent, financially stable home with stress and conflict would be more destructive to children than a one parent, financially stable home without stress and conflict” (Roiphe 61). This is a statistic from Sara S. McLanahan, she is basically stating that a single parent with good finances and no stress or conflict can be much better than a home with two parents and financial stability but with strass and conflict can greater hurt the development of the child. The author agrees with this statement, but overall the author believes that all people should realize that single parenthood is becoming more of a normal thing than before and we as Americans should realize this and should help single parents become successful and have it were they can be financially successful without a
When an individual has a child and they are a single parent, they have to pay attention to the child and the child’s needs. There are few advantages for a child living in a single parent home. They often get to live in two houses and fluctuate between houses. They get two holiday celebrations with the parents. This kind of
For most people, the home life can affect how you act everyday, this is no different for children and school. The stress from home is shown to affect a child's school life. Research has shown that children that live with a single parent score less than children with two parents, on average, with measurements of educational achievements. The reason why children usually do worse than kids with both parents, is because the single parent must work. Therefore is not home to help with homework. Parents also provide the child with emotional support, encouragement and everyday assistance. So, if there is only one parent, then the child is only receiving half of the previously stated things compared to children with two parents. These things can affect a person at any school level. Over 57 percent of children who live with both parents enter college. Compared to the 32.5 percent of children who have single parents that enter college. This is just one way that single parenting can affect a child's life.\
Children of single parent households may find that they do not feel as close to the parent that they live with. This can be because the children are a different gender than the parent or because the parent has increased the children’s responsibilities. Children that are a different gender than the parent that they live with may find that they are unable to confide in or ask questions of that parent due to the gender difference. An example of this could be that a daughter raised by her father may miss out on advice that only a mother can give. Children of single parent households may also find an increase in their responsibilities as the single parent is no longer able to perform all the household duties that they were able to prior to becoming a single parent household. A single parent will spend more time outside of the home and may be unavailable to make sure that the children are fed at night and do their
Single parent households are a sensitive topic that is highly debated today. This topic is one that has repercussions for both the parents and the children involved. However, regardless of the different consequences, these households continue to grow in the coming years. “In 1970, traditional two-parent married households dominated, making up 81 % of all households in the United States (US). By 2012 this number dropped to around 66 % … In 2012, approximately 21 million children, or 28 % of all children in the US, lived with one parent” (Kramer, 2015). It is interesting to look at the way the single parent households continue to grow throughout the years, all while being a hot topic for discussion on its consequences. When thinking about a book to read for this course, there was no real choice. I stumbled upon this book and knew right away that I could benefit from this book, as well as connect to it on a deeper level and relate to it personally.