Life As a Single Parent

Cry of the Single Parent. Or is It?

Over the years, I have heard various people talk about single moms getting remarried in terms of them being 'saved' or needing to be 'saved' from the hard life of being a single parent. That thought process is disturbing to me.

While there are certainly people, men and women alike, who would like nothing better than to live a life of luxury and never have care in the world, there are plenty of others for whom that type of existence would quickly grow boring.

The Uphill Battle

It can be an extreme challenge to be a single parent. There is no question about that. In the ideal situation, two healthy loving parents would be involved in providing for and raising the children. Both would be a support to one another, and both would take an active role in presenting a united front to the children.

Life isn't perfect, and neither are relationships. Most healthy relationships have that foundation, but have not achieved that level of perfection.

As a single parent you are generally fully responsible for meeting, by yourself, all of the needs of your children. There is no support system in place in the home. There is no backup in the home. There is no one else to help you or take over for you. You are on your own.

Sadly, many marriages, before divorce, disintegrate to such a state as well. One party gets left taking on the majority of the responsibility even though there is someone else in the home, who, by all rights, should be participating more fully.

For those, the divorce may actually be a god-send in that they no longer have to deal with the stress associated with interacting with the other partner. For some, they may find their workload actually has decreased significantly, without that other person there dragging them down, and wreaking havoc.