In the past, single motherhood was mainly restricted to poverty-stricken women and minorities such as Hispanics, Asian Americans, and American Indians. Today, single motherhood is now becoming the new “norm” with the number of children born outside marriage increasing intensely over the decades. Presently, there are around 17.5 million children under 18 being fostered without a father and nearly half of these families are living below the poverty line. With the rise of single motherhood, the criticism and discrimination has significantly increased. In fact, 7 in 10 Americans feel single mothers are corrupt for society. The stereotypes of a “typical single mother” have been getting in the way of a broad-minded understanding of what family …show more content…
For instance, one stereotype is that single mothers are careless and irresponsible. A cause for this belief is because most people assume that single mothers choose their lifestyle instead of considering other possibilities such as divorce or the death of a spouse. In 1994, US senator Rick Santorum scourged single moms at a town hall meeting by stating, “We are seeing the fabric of this country fall apart, and its falling apart because of single moms.” In addition to this statement, he claimed that single mothers voted Democrat because “the lives they were living were so difficult and urged Republicans to “build two parent families” in order to “eliminate that desire for government.” Another label is that single mothers are producing more offenders. This belief primarily stems from various studies taken with prisoners. For example, in 1987, "Survey of Youth in Custody," conducted a study and found that 70% of prisoners in the United States grew up without a father. Another study conducted with Wisconsin Juveniles found that 13% grew up without …show more content…
Similarly, some are faced with financial challenges while others are financially secure. In addition, some fathers are still involved in their children's lives, such as seeing them on weekends or holidays,while some fathers choose to be withdrawn from their childrens lives completely. Over the years, there have been many studies that show that the main dangers with single motherhood come from financial uncertainty and to a smaller degree, certain romantic patterns of the mother. A two-parent home that is economically steady with strain and conflict would be more damaging to children than a one-parent, financially stable home without strain and conflict according to McLanahan’s results. In truth, no household arrangement assures gladness or ensures
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
“Single mothers face inexplicable social and religious challenges… due to the cultural stereotype and religious orientation” (Essien). Different religions and culture have their own set of beliefs and standards. However, this provides a reason behind the discrimination towards single parents, specifically, single mothers. “Motherhood is crucial to female identity, and women are perceived as natural reproducers, nurturers, mothers and wives… divorced and abandoned single mothers are sexually, economically and socially vulnerable” (Jordal). Diversion is seen as something is not an option for them. Therefore, single mothers are viewed as a disappointment to the society. Which created more opportunity for the discrimination to
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.
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
In today’s society it is not unusual to have a one-parent family with a young mother in charge. Teen mothers having children has increased so much over the years that it’s now a common occurance. Being a young single mother in today’s society is challenging but with the help of government assistance single mothers are finding their way.
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
Families who have dealt with being a single parent typically see themselves being judged by other parents. For example, Jamie Rush a teen mom said "If he acts up, or if he falls over and bumps his head, I always think people are looking at me as if to say "It's because you're a teenager." (Rush 3). This shows that teen moms are trying their best and love their kids too. Schools are helping teenage single parents. Take the case of Jamie, after she gave birth to her son, she went to an alternative school with a built in daycare (Rush 1). This tells you that there is help for teens out there, but it's not always available to everyone. Socially speaking, one of the primary causes of single parents is because of one of the parent's death. Through research, we have found that the primary cause of single-parent households was because of parental death (Chamie 1). This proves that not all single-parent homes is because of teen pregnancies. As a result, there are many single parents struggling with being judged, or because of significant other's death. But there are schools, helping
Now days the statistics are clearly show that many family they no longer live in the traditional habits of family and as well the number of single mother have increased writhing all races and cultures. And in the defense some single mother that are in middle class they have the stereotype that they will give a bad education to their children it will distance themselves from the circumstances of younger, poorer, less educated because they are single mothers. It would suggest that these women are seeking to distance themselves from the negative images that might cause been the two roles to your children that will become a good son or daughter with high matters and good education feedback, it would have troubling implications for the role feminists
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)
According to a recent study from CBS, the United States has the highest divorce rate of any country at 45%. Due to this high rate of divorce, many families find that there is an imbalance of family roles in these newly created single parent households. Being a single parent has its own set of challenges for the individual and creates challenges for the family such as, spending smaller amounts of time with your children, having an excessive work load and disrupting the wellbeing of the children.
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