Raising children can be very difficult and tiring, even if you have a partner and a broad support connection. Unluckily sole parents all around the world have to take on this duty by themselves without any support from a partner. The term ‘ sole parent’ is used to define people that raise children on their own. Single parents must be able to access a range of services. Most importantly child care and parenting facilities. The community usually takes responsibility for these services by providing schools, child cares, activities/ sports (dancing, soccer, netball) in the community.
As a sole parent access to resources can be difficult as it is tough to find employment because they need a flexible work pattern that understands all their parenting requirements and responsibilities. A parent’s education level can also affect their access to resources as it can also empower an individual as they might be a young age. Single parent families can be affected severely by society’s attitude towards them. The children themselves can be bullied as they may have been brought up around Nuclear families that believe in family firsts and no divorce.
The family can be looked down on and judged unfairly. Some issues of concern for most sole parent households are simple things such as, the child might feel pressured amongst their two parents as if they must ‘ pick sides’, the parent may feel grieved if their child is enemies with someone who has two parents, some parents include their child with their marriage problems rather than privately debating their issues this can put stress on the child and cause concerns. Sole parents usually organise groups like mothers groups in their community.
This can be good for them all help each other out and they can share stories, give advice and realise they are not the only ones. A positive side of being a single parent is being able to spend quality one on one time with your children and being able to develop a stronger bond that might be stronger then it could have been if you were not a single parent. There are single parent support services out there for those strugling the intentions of the programme are to support and promote the psycho emotional well-being of sole parent families towards strength, growth and acceptance.
The services include family casework, support groups, programmes for children and public education. Overall being a sole parent can be financially tough and emotionally stressful, but with the assistance of the government and private agencies, it is potentially possible to provide good care for your children and yourself. For low income single parents many agencies exist to provide basic needs such as food, housing, education, child care and medical care.
