Parenthood Can Bring Stress On The Job Of Raising Children

Many single mothers do not further their education because they are led to believe they can’t. According to Emily Badger and the Census Bureau “Women who weren't married when they had their first child… were less likely than women who were married at first birth to have a high school diploma.(1)” There it is seen that single mothers are less likely than married mothers to have an education. My mother as well as my friend’s mother are single mothers; I took the liberty to ask the reason behind not furthering their education. Both responses were quite similar, my mother Martha stated “Once I found out I was pregnant I forgot about any dreams for my future. Women were led to believe your life is over when you have a child. Your life is now solely dedicated to raising your kids.” Women think that once a child is born they are to work and support their children nothing more.

Although the ideology of single moms have progressively gotten better over the years, they are still stigmatized as being plight in today’s society. Whereas, in reality, they are exceptional role models and self reliant; ultimately, revealing that single moms can prevail two parental figures.

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.

Single mothers are struggling with only one job to make enough for a living for herself and her child. Single mothers are working very hard for very low pay. Mothers that are living paycheck to paycheck and are pushing their budget to the max eventually have to start applying for government assistance (Alexa). “Passing the Raise the Wage Act would especially help women, particularly women of color. Women are the majority (56 percent) of workers who would benefit from increasing the federal minimum wage to $12 by 2020”(Cooper, Gallagher,Vogtman). Single Women have to create strategies to make ends meet on low wages. They have to deal with all sorts of issues. (Chonce)

Credibility: I am a single parent of two daughter and I must say that I can relate to a lot of single parents. It is hard. I can say that there are good days and bad days. Every day will not be perfect. At the age of 20, I became a single parent and caring for my daughter alone was the most difficult experience ever for me. Single parenting to me is work on top of work and it is never ending.

Being a one-person operation means you carry an extra heavy load as a parent, often feeling like you're only capable of getting half the job done. Most especially, though, if the other parent is out of the picture because they have serious problems that could negatively impact your household, you're doing the right thing. It's also very difficult for a single parent to successfully navigate the dating scene, due to lack of time, fear of meeting a psycho or introducing your kids to a new person, then having to say goodby because it didn't work out.

Over the last 20 years there has been a rise in single parent families living in the United States. These families may have become a single parent family for many different reasons, some people perhaps were never married, some may have lost a spouse due to illness and some may have been divorced, there could be many more reasons which we will never know. More than 80% of these families are headed by single women. Female headed single parent families are more likely to be living in or almost in poverty. Female headed households often fare worse than single fathers because men are often paid more in their occupations and also because some mothers are unable to collect child support, single mothers may also be dealing with other issues such as loneliness, less time for themselves, they may be experiencing lack of sleep and everyday stress.

Given these points, being a single mother is not as effective as being a family with a mother and father. 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. A parent’s most important job is for their children to be healthy and able to function in modern society. Why would you want to stack the odds against you children if you had a

“10 Things a Single Parent Wants You to Know” is an article in Reader’s Digest by Jen Babakhan. This begins by saying that just because you have a spouse that works a lot does not mean you are a single parent. One significant difference is that single parents provide all the income and attention in the household. Next the article discusses that while parenting alone has it’s challenges it’s also very rewarding. I relate this article back to the chapter and class discussions on different family structures and socioeconomic factors.

Nothing prepares you for being a single parent and no one can know how hard it really is – mentally, emotionally and financially – until it happens to them.

Twenty-three percent of kids are living with a single mother (lecture notes). Let’s be honest the majority of the time when it comes to custody for a child the mother wins. There even use to be a law in some states where if a couple divorced the mother would get custody, however that is no longer the situation. The reason why the mother usually gets custody of a child could be sexual stereotype. Woman are the back bone of this country without them men wouldn’t be the men who they are so that might be the reasoning behind woman getting custody most of the time. Why being a single mother is a problem is because kids are expensive. For a middle-income, married couple with two children its estimated to be $245,340 to raise a kid in 2015 from birth

For example, they need to work very hard to afford their basic need because working with low-way jobs they don’t afford for their basic needs. Therefore, some of them desire to work long hours to earn enough to pay for the rent. Consequently, they don’t have time for themselves because they need to spend their spare time to take care of their children after work because not all of them have the support from their families. In 2015, Hashim, Azmawati, and Endut (2015) reported that “these single bread winners are more likely to have jobs with poor pay and yet they are responsible for more people including themselves and their children” (p. 2). The women’s roles do not only take care of themselves, but they also have responsibilities to look after their children as well as their families. Hashim, Azmawati, and Endut (2015) concluded, “a single mother who is responsible for the health and well-being of herself, children and other family members are likely to be overwhelmed and experienced a higher level of stress compared to women with lesser roles and responsibilities” (p.2). Nowadays, women have chances to go outside to work, but they still need to spend much their time to do the housework because they have nobody to share the household tasks, so they have to do everything by themselves. In 2017, Berryhill and Durtschi reported, “The tension of meeting the demands of work at the expense of meeting the demands of

They must also be able to still have time to offer an exceptional amount of emotional time for the wellbeing of their child. However, even though this may seem impossible, 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. Accidents may happen frequently, but in most cases adults know what is at stake when planning to have a child. If you’re not ready, then don’t do it. There are many ways to enhance the well-being of your child if you simply apply yourselves as parents.

Kristi Williams, an associate professor of sociology at Ohio State University, published a study in the American Sociological Review, which showed that the negative health consequences for single moms can be long lasting, and they are unlikely to go away even if those women fare financially better later in life. “Research has clearly shown the toll that long-term stress takes on health and we know that single mothers have a great deal of stress in their lives,” Williams said. Adding to that information, Caryn Rabin, writing in The New York Times about single mothers’ health risks, explains, “Middle-aged women who were single when they had their first child are in worse health than similar women who were married when first giving birth.” Clearly, the studies make an important point: the cumulative stress women experience as a single mother has long-term health

One such problem they face is having to decide between quality childcare and being employed. Imagine a single mother hopes to find employment so she can stop relying on public assistance. In order to do so, she must send her children to a child care facility, for part of or the whole day depending on their age. Often times, single mothers struggle to obtain employment that compensates them adequately. Therefore, they are forced to choose child care facilities that may be subpar. Single mothers are left to make the decision of staying home and caring for their children to ensure proper care, or going to work and having to send their children to facilities that are lacking.