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The negative impact of a single parent family
The negative impact of being a single parent
The negative impact of being a single parent
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For all the talk about our inclusive society, there are still areas where inaccurate and harmful stereotypes get a green light from the media and politicians. Teenage parents must seem like the gift that keeps on giving for certain sections of the tabloid press, who leap at the chance to tie up all single parents in the same lazy caricature of feckless welfare spongers. But those who work directly with single parents know that these unjust stereotypes can be hugely damaging to young women or men taking their first steps into parenthood. Young single parents regularly tell us that the stigma they face is one of the most challenging aspects of becoming a parent at a young age.
The stigma means that they can often have low self-esteem and struggle
This book is a study of the personal tales of many single mothers, with intentions to understand why single mothers from poor urban neighborhoods are increasingly having children out of wedlock at a young age and without promise of marrying their fathers. The authors chose to research their study in Philadelphia’s eight most devastated neighborhoods, where oppression and danger are high and substantial job opportunities are rare. They provide an excellent education against the myth that poor young urban women are having children due to a lack of education on birth control or because they intend to work the welfare system. Instead, having children is their best and perhaps only means of obtaining the purpose, validation and companionship that is otherwise difficult to find in the areas in which they live. For many of them, their child is the biggest promise they have to a better future. They also believe that though their life may not have been what they want, they want their child to have more and better opportunities and make it their life’s work to provide that.
Sometimes, when the reader reads a story or an essay, they think, “Wow that had a lot of meaning into it”. That was the same for me “In Defense of Single Motherhood”. This essay appeals to all modes of persuasion: Ethos, Logos, and Pathos. The author of the essay, Katie Roiphe, is credible person. She is a notable author of several books over the past two decades. She wrote this essay in 2012 which was published in the New York Times. Roiphe emphasizes logos throughout the essay the majority of the time through the use of studies and reports, mostly to persuade the reader to her side, but she also emphasizes ethos and pathos, just not as much as logos. The audience of the argument is most readers of the New York Times to emphasize her point on single motherhood. Roiphe claims single motherhood is not bad like everyone says it is.
In making decisions about how to educate children, the way we see young adults and what we come to believe about them has a major influence on the curricular and educational choices we make for them. This paper builds on an earlier analysis of how the term ‘teen mother’ is discursively used to mark girls as ‘other’ by examining the effects of the discourse on curriculum decisions and social policy, namely the separation of pregnant and mothering teens into alternative and/or supplemental programs. The use of separation as a curricular tool is widespread for adolescents who are pregnant or who have children (Pillow, 2004). As the private matter of their pregnancy becomes a visible and public matter, schools, policy makers, and educators feel compelled to respond with a change in curriculum or educational option. Quite often, that response entails removing or separating the girls from their home schools and offering them alternative school environments specially geared towards pregnant and mothering teens or support services to support the young girl as she navigates life as both a student and a parent. In offering separate services or a different curriculum, administrators and policy makers reify the idea that the pregnant or mothering teen is now different: the public condition of her pregnancy marks her sexuality as different from the norm and necessitates a removal or separation from traditional schools (Burdell, 1995). Yet, I argue that the routine policy of a separate location and/or curriculum for adolescents with children is arbitrary, one that is not fixed in the educational achievement of the young girl. Rather, the policy of isolation serves as a physical reminder of the ways in which these young women are marginal...
“At current rates, about 40% of U.S. children will witness the breakup of their parents’ marriages before they reach 18” (Cherlin). This started as a prediction that was thought up almost forty years ago, in 1984. Today, this is more or less an everyday occurrence; not every divorce is the same. Yet society tends to lean towards stereotypes of divorce, when it comes to the children and how they should be acting because of the divorce.
...nder roles that lack this maternal instinct. Culturally fathers are perceived to be the “bread-winners” and be more involved in playing with children, whereas mothers are often involved in the daily care of children, such as feeding and bathing children. Although women are commonly the head of sole-parent families, the Ministry of Social Development state that there is a growing rate of sole-parent fathers accounting for 14% of all sole-parents with dependent children in 1986 rising to 17% in 2006 (2010). It is evident that single-mother parenting is different to single-father parenting; however the rising rate of single-fathers suggests that the stigma of gender roles in sole-parenting is on the rise towards equality.
Teen pregnancy is increasing yearly. According to the March of Dimes, teenage birth rates have decreased steadily in the country since 1991. Teenage birth rates in the United States remain relatively high compared to the more developed countries.
Ethnocentrism as described by Jandt is considered to be a barrier to effective intercultural communication, it is defined as negatively judging aspects of another culture by the standards of one’s own culture (Jandt, 2010, pp. 84). A blended family is at times hard to live in, especially when stepchildren are involved. As a family the stepchildren’s mother chooses to live a lifestyle as a lesbian, when that children were younger there was friction due to the disagreement with that lifestyle choice. Many judgements were passed regarding how the children were raised and if her partner should be able to parent the children due to a past of violence and anger. This has caused some disagreements in the family making people feel like they were
The struggles Cecelia faced as a single mother working to complete a degree and support herself and her son did strike a familiar tone with me. Although I did raise my daughter as a single mother in California for almost six years, unlike Cecelia I was well employed, had completed my bachelor’s degree, and was in my thirties. Even so I also struggled more than occasionally with bias against my status as a single mother, albeit a successful professional, and the unanticipated ways this affected my daughter. There were clear biases evinced by teachers, child care workers, doctors, childless friends and coworkers, who all believed that they had not only the right to judge my d...
What Beck & Beck & Gernsheim demonstrate here is that Giddens’ assertion of gender equal relationships (1992) do not hold up. New forms of intimacy may have transgressed through forms of gender oppression such as equal opportunities for women in the labor market; however men and women are still not classed as legally or naturally equal in terms of the capacity to care for a child once a relationship has broken down. Beck & Beck & Gernsheim also argue the rise in divorce rates have instilled individualistic attitudes in the younger generation. Children who experienced their parents divorcing when they were young are viewed as more likely to follow in their footsteps; in 1999, The National Opinion Research Council reported that adult children
What is a single parent? Is it one who destroys their child’s life? Is it one who ultimately cannot raise a minor on their own? Or is it one who dedicates their lives to the well being of their kid? Imagine a parent, and for whatever reason they were left alone to raise a child. That parent you imagined has to work long hours just to put a meal on the table. That parent has to play the role of the mother and father. That parent has no financial support. Unfortunately, in our society, this image of a single parent is looked down upon. There are people that don’t realize how much a single parent goes through to give their child a better life.
Single parenthood culture seems appealing to many married people. However, married individuals are forced to battle with elements like faithfulness and life-long commitment to one individual, which may be boring in some cases. However, single parents, especially single mothers encounter serious challenges related to parenting. Single parenting is a succession of constant mental torture because of ineptness, self-scrutiny, and remorse. At some point, single parents will often encounter serious psychological problems some graduating to stress and eventual depression. Again, there are far-reaching problems that force single mothers to a set of economic or social hardships. Social hardships are evident as address in this research.
The Family structure has changed significantly in the last fifty years. With higher percentages of marriage ending in divorce, and higher rates of childbearing out of wedlock, single parent families are increasing rapidly. “Seventy percent of all the children will spend all or part of their lives in a single-parent household.” (Dowd) Studies have shown that the children of these families are affected dramatically, both negatively and positively. Women head the majority of single- parent families and as a result, children experience many social problems from growing up without a father. Some of these problems include lack of financial support, and various emotional problems by not having a father around, which may contribute to problems later in life. At the same time, children of single-parent homes become more independent because they learn to take care of themselves, and rely on others to do things for them.
The family is the main agent of socialisation and an institution. (Giddens, 2013:339). As children, we rely on our family to fulfil basic needs. We all need guidance, and more importantly we also require nurturing to become healthy adults. The definition of family varies across cultures. However, the family is sensitive to change and, therefore, not static. The structure of the family has changed, and culture and society are now more accepting of the fact that people now choose to cohabit, rather than marry. (Haralambos & Holborn 2009:3). In 2013, there were nearly 1.9 million lone parent households with dependent children in the United Kingdom; a figure which has steadily increased over the years (Office of National Statistics 2013). The rise in lone parents has brought about greater acceptance of pregnancies that do not have to involve marriage although acceptance is not the concern. A study suggests that….
One of the hardest issues to survive in, as a single parent, is an overwhelming emotion that you should complete the role of both mother and father. This feeling evolves and will be more intense if the other single parent is not portraying a role that is active with the children.
Many people nowadays are considered disenfranchised: the mentally ill, homeless, elders and many more. One major group that is often discriminated against are single parents. In recent years there has been a rise of single moms in the United Stated. With the increase of single parent households comes the rise of discrimination towards them. Single moms are often considered unhealthy for society and manipulative. Single mothers are discriminated against in the workforce and at social gatherings, and are often judged by society in general.