Single Mothers

Single Mothers

Many women take for granted the freedoms that they have today. Some have forgotten what their own mothers and grandmothers went through. Women have started to receive many of the same rights that men do in the work place and at home. At home many women find it more socially acceptable to be single with a child. No longer does society look down on this. This relatively new sense of feminism has helped cause the growing trend of single mothers.

With divorce on the rise, the dilemma of single mothers is at an all time high. Currently in the U.S. more than one third of all marriages end in divorce. Divorce, combined with a new sense of confidence has given way to the trend of single mothers.

Now that the divorce rate has increased, many mothers want to have full custody of their children. Fathers tend to stay away from full custody battles due to the fact that the children draw closer to the mother from birth. One problem with being a single mother is that the child does not have a father figure in their life. Every child needs a father to support them. Not only does a father offer economic stability he also serves as a role model. At some point in child hood children look up to their fathers for certain advice and needs. Author, Daniel Amneus wrote a book with statistics about children with no father figure in their lives. His book showed that 90% of all homeless and runaway children are from fatherless homes, 63% of youth suicides are from fatherless homes, 85% of all youths sitting in prisons grew up in a

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fatherless home, and nearly 75% of American children living in single-parent families will experience poverty before they turn 11. These statistics show just how important it is for a child to have any kind of father figure in their life.

With a divorce comes the added stress of money. A new single mother has to provide for her and her children. This new added stress can cause in-stability in the house hold. Many

women are not able to support their family by working at one job. The only way to fix this is to work two jobs that do not have interfering schedules. This would typically mean working all

day at one job that paid well, and picking up a lower paying job that had a night shift. Some women would feel that they had succeeded in bringing their family together by becoming the “bread winner”; however this could not be further from the truth. One proven fact about child hood is that the parents need to be around. If a single mother has two jobs that keep her away from home she is not helping raise her kids. This stress on the household causes more problems than it can fix. With no parental guidance children will not know who has authority. All of this stress has led to the fact that single mothers are more likely to die early. Researchers from Sweden found that nearly 70% of single mothers had twice the risk of death from suicide, three times the risk of violent death, and two-and-one-half times the risk of alcohol-related death (Trish Wilson, “Facts about Fatherlessness”). Single mothers have poorly developed support systems and these statistics will only keep increasing with more and more added stress.

This lack of authority in a child’s life can cause many problems in the future. Children need rules and guidelines to follow, but in a house with no parental control they do not receive this. I’ve seen this case with my neighbors living across the street from me. Shawn, the mother, got a divorce from her husband after her betrayed her. This left her single and left to raise their

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four year old daughter Audrey. Throughout this past year I’ve watched her raise Audrey and try to discipline her. Shawn will not take the step up and become the adult in the family. “I feel like I have to win her over so that she does not love her dad more than she loves me.” Shawn said, “I’m too afraid to get on to her or even put her in time out.” After seeing how Audrey walks all over her mom, I offered to baby sit more often and told Shawn that I would start to

discipline her. Maybe if Audrey had someone else start to get on to her more and teach her manners, then she would respect her mom even more. Divorce makes for a lot of single mothers. Recently the University of Chicago found that there were about thirteen million

children living with only their mothers. This