Analysis Of Kate Roiphe's In Defense Of Single Motherhood

Is there a reason traditional families have lasted for thousands of years? In the argumentative essay “In Defense of Single Of Motherhood” by Katie Roiphe, the author is arguing that a single mother is a significant way to raise children. Roiphe also includes how being a traditional mother and father family is unsuccessful and frustrating. Although being a single mother may work for her, countless numbers of single mothers struggle in many different ways. These struggles affect the mother and the children as well. Being a single mother is harmful for a family because a child needs a father figure, it is too much stress on one person, and it is financially difficult to raise a family on one income.

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.

Single parents don’t necessarily raise their children alone; they can have support from family and friends. Single parents also tend to parent better, they are stricter with their decisions and their children respect their choices. When it comes to creating a healthy family, it's not about the number of parents, but the quality of parenting a child receives that is most important. A home is only "broken" when healthy family interactions break down, for example when people stop communicating adequately. In the situation where both parents are raising the child, but the family situation isn’t healthy it can do more harm on the child than good. Certain situations such as a violent household

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

The essay “In Defense of Single Motherhood” by journalist Katie Roiphe is best summed up by the title. The writer is a single mother of two children and is fighting back against the stereotype that say children from a single parent household will not have as fulfilling a life as they would with two parents. She goes on to explain how she believes the studies on single mother-led households are flawed.

Most of the studies that she cites come from Sara S. McLanahan, a Princeton sociologist. To counter the beliefs she argues that people pick out what they want to hear and don’t get the message of the study. “But since these studies provide fodder for those who want to blast single mothers, it’s worth addressing what they actually say”. “…There is no conclusive evidence that, absent those conditions, the pure, pared-down state of single motherhood is itself dangerous to children”. Roiphe states that there are just as many single mothers raising good and bad children as there are family’s together raising good and bad children. She states that it comes down to what type of parent a person is, will show how their child will become as an adult. She states that people should change the way they think a normal family should be and think more openly about it. Furthermore, she wants Americans to accept different types of family’s instead of arguing about who has the right type of

Constance Ahrons, a doctor who coined the term “binuclear family” once said, “Pessimists say that the family is eroding. Optimists say the family is diversifying. Both points of view are right. Families are more diverse and they are more in trouble-but not because of their diversity. The families of today-whatever their size or shape-are in crisis because our economy is failing, our national resources are shrinking, and our governmental policies to support them are inadequate.” This quote gives a perspective of several reasons for the decline of the nuclear family. A nuclear family is a type of traditional family, consisting of a mother, a father, and their children. It involves time spent with the children, emotional support, low stress, and a stable economic environment. This type of family became most popular during the 1950’s, and was regarded more as a universal form of a social organization, and not just a simple family. Both parents worked secure jobs, and would come home to their children, and would enjoy this happy-go-lucky lifestyle. However, this fantasy of a family evolved over time, and the idea of a nuclear family curtailed. New generations were created that opposed the idea of a nuclear family, and began to reject society’s values: Generation X and Generation Z. In addition to the new generations, there was a development to the word “family”, as many families differed from the traditional template of a mother, a father, and children; changing the idea of a

Single motherhood often leads to child poverty. Each year many children struggle to meet their daily needs, living through poverty and face inequality from the time they are born. Growing up in a single household highly increases your chances of living a poor lifestyle. Children will experience higher drop out rates, have difficulty finding employment, engage into teen pregnancy and face various problems as they grow older. Our society projects a negative image by blaming single mothers for their actions ‘‘In Murray's eyes, the mothers are fully responsible for any children they bear in an age when contraceptives and abortion are freely available’’(McLanahan).

In America, roughly 34% of households are single parent households. This mainly occurs because most parents don’t get married or one parent decides that the pressure of raising a child is too much for them to handle. This decision not only affects the other parent, but it also has a major effect on the child. Single parent households can affect a child’s academic success, social life, social decisions, and emotions. Single parent households can also affect the parent that is the head of household financially, emotionally, it can cause stress and occasional guilt.

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)

Today single-family homes are becoming increasingly more common. Not only are they becoming more common, but in the recent years, there has also been an increase in single fathered homes. In 1970, a study showed that only in 1.1% of single-family homes was it the case that the father had custodial custody over his children; however, in 2005 this number had risen to 4.8% (Bronte-Tinkew, Lilja, and Scott 1). There has been extensive attention and research put into single mother and two parent homes, but not in the case of single fathered homes (Bronte-Tinkew, Lilja, and Scott 2). In today’s economy with the shortage of jobs, it can be hard to find a way to support your family and the burden becomes even harder for single families. Moreover, the burden worsens for single fathered homes because most of the places available for employment for them tend to be strict hours and companies that tend to have a hard time understanding that you have a family that needs attending to. The set roles that separated gender in the past are becoming more increasingly interchangeable and today the media tend to portray the single father as being nonexistent or as only being there because of the death of the mother or have fallen on some other tragic unforeseen circumstance.

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

Indeed, I believe single parents are stronger than a fifth of whiskey. Raising a child is hard, especially when you are left alone. When my mother exchanged vows with my father, she never imaged three years later she would become a single mother. She woke up with the weight of the world on her shoulders, but she handled it with grace and dignity. My mom had to take on the role of both mother and father. She was the person there through every sickness, hissy fit, and celebration. My mother lived off minimal sleep. She worked long hours at the jobsite. Then, mother came home to cook, clean, and make sure I had everything I needed. She would come home exhausted; however, I never heard her complain. Instead, she would sing, “You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy when skies are gray. You'll never know dear, how much I love you. Please don't take my

Society’s opinion has been proven wrong in many different ways due to the fact that it has become so normal in today’s society that children have been successful with only growing up with one parent. Meeting multiple different people throughout this first year of college has proven to me that it’s not always necessary to have two parents to get a degree. Although many people look down on single-parent families, it needs to be known that they are becoming more common throughout the world. Just because a child is being raised by a single-parent does not mean that they are always alone, sometimes the relation between the child and their parent becomes even stronger. In the article, “Positive Effects of Single Parenting”, author Tom Milles states, “Spending quality time with your kids one-on-one may allow you to develop a bond stronger than what you might have had within a traditional family system.” A lot of arguments tend to go down between and child a their parents in a traditional family due to the fact that there are two people telling the child what to do around the house. Unlike in a single-parent family household where the child either only has a mother or a father. Having only a mother or a father creates a stronger bond because they only have that one parent to rely on. Therefore, a child does not need two parents for a family to have

They must be able to have a lot of time to offer and amount of emotional time for the well-being of their child. However, this may seem impossible, but we know it can be done. As this subject continues to be looked down on, people must realize that single parents are becoming more common in today’s world. Since a long time ago families structure for children ages fourteen to eighteen consists of forty-two percent living in a first marriage family with both parents, and twenty-two percent living in a second marriage step-family. Twenty-one percent living in a single parent, divorced or separated family. The chilling percentage because it shows how little faith is put into a relationship before actually deciding to have children. Unfortunately, not all single-parents take the time to perform the tasks that are thrown at them but is needed to raise their children. Parents think they would never be able to provide stability for their children by themselves. They should have taken the time to think this through before deciding to become parents. I know from personal experience that is very hard to raise one or more kids if one of your parents leave and you’re just trying to take it all in day by day without any if ands or but by it. I never had my father around while growing up and I did in fact have somewhat a positive male role model. My sister father was always there to help guide me as I slowly blossomed into a young woman. Anytime my mother had to