Society's View of Single Parent Family

The more things change, the more people wish that they would stay the same. Or at least that seems to be the case when it comes to Americans' ideas about what constitutes a real family. This paper examines the ways in which society assumes that a single-parent family is somehow not a real family and how this fact makes the other stresses faced by single parents even more difficult. It also looks at two of the most difficult areas for single parents - providing emotional support for their families and providing financial security for their families.

Despite the fact that the majority of American children born today are likely to find themselves in a single-parent household at some point (Wagonseller etal, 1997, p. 14), the ideal of a perfect family in most people's minds is still made up of a mother, a father and two or three children. The stereotype of this perfect family for most people may still also include a mother who stays at home full time. But the ideal of the typical family has shifted to some extent in the post-World War II years to catch up with the realities of the late 20th century to reflect the fact that most women now work. However, most people's ideal of a perfect American family includes only one parent who puts in long hours at work (and this is usually the father) with another parent's working part time to help make ends meet but who has enough time left over to be there for teacher-parent conferences, to bake cookies and to shuffle kids back and forth to

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ing with their children (Wagonseller, etal., 1997, p. 121). A boy growing up with his mother only is not necessarily going to have a more difficult time of things than a boy who grows up with two parents if neither of them is particularly loving - and he is certainly in a better position than the boy who grows up watching his father beat his mother. The important thing for a mother to do if she is raising a son on her own is in many ways the same thing that all parents have to do in all situations, which is to make sure that her son has good role models and has a chance to talk about the things that are important to him in a non-threatening arena (Atwood and Genovese, 1993, p. 57). This might mean talking to the boy herself or making sure that he has access to other men that he can talk to, such as coaches, teachers, clergy members or other male relatives. Again, the tools that a single parent has are similar to those in any family - love, consistency, guidance, concern (Atwood and Genovese, 1993, p. 58). The same sorts of concerns may come up when a single father is raising a daughter, and the same kinds of actions are perfectly appropriate in terms of providing a cure to any problem (Atwood and Genovese, 1993, p. 58). In addit

Category: Psychology - S