Do Children Grow Up In Ahlberg's Single Parenthood?

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

About four in every ten children born in America in 2008 were born outside of marriage, and they are disproportionately minority and poor. “Only about 6 percent of college-educated mothers’ births are nonmarital versus 60 percent of those of high school dropouts” (5). Scholars responded to this by studying single-parent families.

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.

Children born to single or unwed parents causes serious problems and discussions not only within society, but also the welfare system. Becoming a parent seems to be one of the most beautiful things life has to offer to people. The laughter of children warms the heart like nothing else can, and the way their eyes light up when they receive something as small as a piece of candy reminds us all that the little things in life are the most important. However, children require time and money which often gets overlooked by many people. Raising a child with two married parents seems difficult enough, but today many people are having children out-of -wedlock which also seems to create more single parent homes and puts more pressure on that one parent who struggles to support the child. From 1960 to 2000, out-of-wedlock births grew by 600%

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

As time progresses, family structures are rapidly shifting. In 2007, unmarried parents produced 40% of US children. This was over twice the 18 percent in 1980 and about eight times greater than the 5% in 1960 (Waldfogel, Craigie, Brooks-Gunn, 2).  In a study of 5000 children in many large cities, 3,700 of them were born to unmarried mothers. According to Waldfogel, Craigie, and Brooks-Gunn, such familiar conditions are dangerous because of the way that single mothers and unmarried parents tend to have less stable lives and relationships

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.

Divorce and out-of-wedlock childbearing are now epidemic in American society. Both forms of disrupted families are harmful to children and to society. The children of single parents are more likely to do poorly in school, commit crimes, and become single parents themselves. In addition, the increase in single-parent families contributes to such social problems as poverty, crime, and a decline in the quality of public education.

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)

This stress can sometimes lead to an increase in risky behaviors, such as drug and alcohol use. Not uncommon, the newly single parent may find that they are more easily depressed or experience an increase in anxiety. When parental abilities begin to break down the opportunity arises for the children to also dabble in risky behaviors. As stated in the International Encyclopedia of Marriage and Family, “children in single parent homes tend to have higher absentee reports and higher dropout rates”.

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.

Married couples make up 68% of all families with children under 18, compared to 93% in 1950 (US 2015 Census). This demonstrates that more and more children are living in households with single parents. Single parents have to deal with jobs and other sources of stress making it difficult to give their children the attention they need. Additionally, single parents are the only ones that are providing for the family so they have a lot on their plate. This can provide stress on the child because they can feel unloved or even hated. As the rate of single parents go up, so does the amount of children that are not receiving enough

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.