My Life After A Single Parent Home

Stephanie Gonzalez is a 16 year old teenager who grew up and was raised in Chicago by only her mother and older brother. Stephanie has had to persevere through several challenges and obstacles in her life due to the fact that her father left her when she was only an infant. Stephanie was willing to speak out about how her culture needs to relook at the way they view single-parent households in society and how she was deeply affected by the way she grew up (Gonzalez). The percentage of children living with single parents increased substantially in the United States during the second half of the 20th century. Only nine percent of children lived with single parents in the 1960s, while this statistic increased dramatically to 28 percent in 2012. Growing

My father had to work fourteen hours a day to maintain my family. For the most part I would rarely see him, he practically lived at his job. The times I would see him was when he was asleep.

I was born to a nondenominational Youth Pastor and a Medical Sales Representative on July 30, 1996 in a tiny town in the Philippines called Naga Growing up, I spent most of my time with my many cousins. There was always someone to play with and always something to do. When my dad got the opportunity to become the Head pastor at a church in Northern California he took it. In November of 2002 my mom quit her job, we packed up our belongings, said our goodbyes and moved to Fremont, California.

It was hard for me and my mom to be alone together without my dad. Me and my mom also became really close we would look out for each other. When, my dad was not there I wouldn't feel as safe as i would. Me and my mom had to get used to my dad not being there with us. We had to get used to doing things a man would do. It was hard but by the months went by

My father's father was a raging drunk who became extremely violent when intoxicated. He was physically and emotionally abusive towards my father and his two siblings He was also sexually abusive towards my father and his two siblings. My grandfather would often become physically abuse towards my grandmother, who would then turn on my father and his siblings. My father, and his siblings, all struggled with alcohol and drug abuse issues, which continued into their married lives. My mother and father were married when they were both very young by today's standards. My mother had just turned 20 and my father was just a couple months shy of his 24th birthday. According to my mother things were harmonious for the first few months. They both got along well and my father was the "picture perfect" husband. The first instance of physical abuse between my mother and father occurred while she was still pregnant with me, when he began choking her for attempting to leave him. According to my mother, the first instance of physical abuse with me occurred when I was four years of age. The first instance of sexual abuse with me occurred when I was around the age of 6 or

I did not really like going over to my father’s house when I was younger. I was so used to my mother and her mom, I did not really know my father’s family. Every once in awhile I would have to go stay with my dad and his mother. I remember I used to cry for my Grandma Peaches (my mother’s mom) every time I had to spend the night. My nana said I even used to cuss at her because I did not want them doing my hair, or even picking out my outfit for the day. But once I got older, it got better for me being with them.

Lone-parent families struggle to get social assistance from the government because of the welfare policies. Single parents lack affordable childcare with long waiting list, no available space, but if available, it is likely to be costly for single parents to afford. High quality regulated child care is inaccessible to single parent families, and it is not contested; in addition, Canada’s public funding for childcare is very low, consequently, the quality is not as high as it should be. Furthermore, they lack drug and dental benefits and of full time well paid employment, have made it difficult if not impossible for many single parents, as they struggle to balance the competing demands of caring for and providing support for their children.

Although I had no father figure in my early life, I grew up with my mom and my grandparents. I had an extremely loving home where if I got to the protesting part of when a family member wasn't paying attention to me that was enough to get them to attend to me and my needs. This carried me through my life, where my family allowed me to “feel felt” at all times growing up and my general sense of well being in my life has been pretty intact. Of course there were times when the triangle was broken. These times included times like, when my mom got married or when my little brother was born. The connection to my mom was shifting because she suddenly had others to attend to and couldn't always focus on me. This led to some depressed and saddened times for me; I was not longer “feeling felt” by my mom. Luckily for me, these shifts in our relationship leveled out and we reconnected once we both got use to the

People all grow up in different places, around different people, under different circumstance and, all of these cause different effects on their lives. People are who they are today because of the experiences that they faced. Until I was a teenager, it was always just my mom and I. I never met my “dad”, not even from day one. I never was able to get to know him, or see him, but I did have a mom. I faced the odds of becoming the stereotypical kid with a single parent that went down the wrong path, but I never did. Life caused me to have a single mother that has made me the strong person that I am today.

My sister and I lived under the custody of my mother who was very caring. She

Since the age of 2, I was raised by mom. I was able to see my dad a couple times, but due to him living two states away, communication was limited to talking on the phone. Growing up, I wasn’t taught some of the lessons that fathers teach their sons. Lessons such as how to fix a flat tire on a

I will never forget that day, the day I casually walked downstairs to find my parents sitting face to face at the kitchen table with both arms crossed and a serious look on their faces. I slowly walk towards my dad who is reaching out to give me a hug, looking at me with his sorrowful eyes, tells me that he will be moving out. At the time, I remember feeling confused, but I did not feel so emotionally affected because I was only just 5 years old. Being raised in a single parent household has been a challenge in my life and has impacted me through financial problems, social situations, and maturity.

My parents divorced when I was five, so I was raised in a single parent home by my mother. My aunt and mother both instilled in me what it means to be a strong, independent, God fearing woman. From the time I was born I attended church regularly, praise dancing and singing in the choir. Being able to touch someone while ministering the word of God is one of the greatest privliges I’ve had.

The cause of behavioral and/or emotional problems among our youth could come from being raised in a single parent home. Many children resort to negative acts of behavior because of limited parental supervision within the single parent household. Children are two to three times more likely to have emotional and behavioral problems in single parent homes (Maginnis, 1997).

Parenting styles have had many controversial issues over the decades. The way people raised their children back in the 50’s and 60’s are completely different from today society. Back then they believe in the nuclear family, which is a family with a mom, dad, and children. They believe staying together at all cost. If something was breaking or broken you fixed it. At times you wonder if they stayed for love, money, or just for the sake of the children. Now and days it is not the same. Families are broken up for many reasons. Rather it be by death, the other parent wanting out (such as divorce). But in the end there is always a single parent left to take care of the kids in most situations. When something like this happens a negative connotation is brought to the single parent. This paper would show the effects of being raised by a single parent. Just like everything in life there is a good and bad side to everything. So in this paper you should learn the negative and positive effect of being raised by a single parent. The problem of the matter is that society tends to write off the child of single parents. Stating that they are lead down this road of destruction and grouping the entire single parent raised children without seeing the other side. Not saying that being raised by a single parent does not come with it hardships, but the fact is that there is still hope for those children and they can do very well. By always stating the negative it leaves the