I'm not looking to start a debate (probably a rarity), but was just wondering what you people thiink of when you hear the term single parent.
EG. How old are they, how often do they go out, how many kids do they have, educational level, where does their income come from?
Or perhaps you are a single parent. What are your experiences of single parenting
I'm working on a blog post, following the leaders of the three main uk political parties signing a pledge to end the prejudices faced by single parents.
Please be honest, type the first thing you think of when you hear the term, not what you think a single parent would want to hear.
Someone from mid teens to late 30s who is taking care of a child on their own without the support and companionship of the other parent. Whether through abandonment, divorce, death, or other reasons. Their educational level could be anything from just left school at 16 with a few GCSEs, right through to post graduate/PhD level. Their income might be from benefits, grand/parental support, wages, the other parent, or often a combination of all of the sources.
First thoughts?
Hard work! And possible loneliness.
I cant imagine how difficult raising a child singlehanded must be.
And yay, to removing the negative connotations that seem associated with it.
How exactly are they hoping to achieve this?
At the end of the day, some ppl will never change their opinions.
I guess there's two threads to what I think, for example if I'm talking to someone and they mention that they are a single parent then I probably just think that that must be a lot of hard work and not something I could do. Wouldn't really make any judgements about them at all.
But then somewhere I do have an inner Daily Mail reader who when hears about single parents as a whole does think of fecklessness, deprivation, broken homes, latch-key kids and the like. Though rationally I know that really isn't the case for the majority of single parents.
I also just find it a bit of a useless term, because how many truly single parent families are there? For example when my parents split up we could have been referred to as a single-parent family, but that's really not the case, I still had two parents who were very much involved in my life! And if not biological parents then it's still common for other people to fill that role be it mother's partners, close family friends or relatives. I just find it a bit of a useless phrase as it's highly unusual to find someone bringing up kids without the involvement of other adults. I think the concept of the nuclear family is becoming a little bit outdated. It's also worth pointing out that in historical terms it's still a pretty recent concept of having only the biological parents involved in raising a family, in the past lots of people lived with their extended family or practised communal child-rearing. And I think there should be more widespread acceptance of families of all shapes and sizes, be they single parents, 4 parents, gay parents, relatives acting as parents etc etc.
Not sure, but if you bear in mind when gingerbread started work 92 years ago, a child born out of wedlock was generally taboo, they must have some plans.
I think they may be planning on imposing guidelines on how newspapers portray single mothers, possibly calling for a larger range of working, older single mums on tv media, things like that, but it's vague at the moment
I have a couple friends who are single parents so I mostly get sympathy first. I would usually assume it meant a single mum but one of my male friends is primary caregiver for his son so it's not always that way. I don't really get any stereotypes about the quality of care etc. probably because I feel that it's not really about having two parents, it's about knowing that you are loved and protected. If it takes one parent, a whole family or a village to provide that then so be it.
And I agree with Heidi that the term can be misleading, my cousin's a single parent and her parents and siblings have completely stepped up, her daughter will never want for love or support.
I'm at the bottom of the well, so why can't I see the stars?
Heidi, so so so so sorry I didn't see your reply the other day. And yep, you make one hell of a valid point.
And likewise, KittyCatie. I'd prefer to think there was generally that knowledge about, I mean kids knowing they're loved and what not, regardless of family type, but I guess there's no guaranteed way of that happening
