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Essay on The Effects of Single Parenting on the Family

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The Effects of Single Parenting on the Family Single parenting has been a part of me throughout my entire life. Being raised in a single parent home, my mother struggled to support her four children. Today, I also am a single parent experiencing many of the same stressors my mother had to endure. While observing my mother juggle the time she spent working, mentoring her children, and participating in church activities, I had no idea of the complexity of her daily struggles. Now that I am experiencing the same situation, I recognize that much research has been completed on the issue of single parenting and its effects on the family. Many researchers, based on statistical data, believe that children born in two-parent homes have …show more content…

(Kirby) According to Jack and Judith Balswick, "the second greatest problem encountered by single parents is the lack of time to juggle work, parenting, household tasks, and a personal life" (315). Even parents with superb time management skills may find it difficult to manage the tasks of parenthood without assistance. Elizabeth S. Greywolf, Project Coordinator of the Stress and Family Project of Harvard University, describes it as a circus juggler who has worked diligently to perfect her act of juggling six green and blue balls in the air, along with various vegetables and two flaming sticks. The juggler managed to accomplish her goal, and she performed three times a night. Then one day she was approached by her boss, the Ringmaster, and he told her that he wanted her to add three more flaming sticks, a watermelon, and a live puppy to the list that already existed. He also wanted her to perform five times a night instead of three starting the next day (15). Do you think the juggler was able to accomplish such a difficult task? Actually the story doesn't say, but it gives a glimpse of how single parents feel the very moment of entering into single parenthood and daily thereafter. Another problem is the decline or lack of assistance from the noncustodial parent (Balswick 315). Although most

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