Single Parenting Guide

Some Facts About Single Parenting and Ways To Cope

Being a single parent is no easy task. It is like doing two jobs in one sitting. Single parenting requires you to be an understanding mother or a tough and a providing father all at the same time.

Stress and single parenting, therefore, works together, giving single mom and dad a terrible headache every single day.

Stress and single parenting are the usual topics in self-help books in parenting. Psychologists believe that raising children and even just a child is a very stressful task that requires ample management of emotional, behavioral and spiritual aspect of a single parent.

Without the proper guide from self-help books, counsellors, group therapy, a single parent will deteriorate emotionally due to stress.

So how could you manage stress and single parenting? Psychologists say that in order for a parent to manage both stress and single parenting, he or she should enumerate things that brings him or her the stressors.

Here are some facts about single parenting in the US:

- There currently are more or less 11.9 million single parents in the country
- 84% of kids growing under a single parent live with their mothers
- Among all racial groups, the percentage of two-parent households has been drastically declining over the years
- Around 28% of American children aged 18 years old and below live with a single parent
- 85% of custodial parents are mothers and only about 15% are fathers
- 53.7% of custodial single parents work full time jobs, while 30% are temps
- Around 59% of single parents in custody of their children have some sort of child support agreements with the other parent
- The average household income for custodial parents is US$28,000
- Most single parent settings exist in metropolitan areas

If you are a single parent, you really need not fear. There are a lot ways you can obtain support, both financially and emotionally.

The US government offers financial support for single parents who have proven themselves unable to provide enough care for their children. The law acknowledges that single parents face responsibilities that are much more complicated than families with two parents, hence the provision for financial assistance.

This way, the government takes part in reducing the pressures and hardships single parents face every single day. Despite the absence of a partner, single parents are not alone in the challenging task of rearing their kids. The government is there and very much willing to help.

Internet sites like SingleParentsNetwork.com and SingleParentsMingle.com also provide venues for single parents to meet other single parents. They provide articles relevant to single parents' situations and fora for single parents to discuss challenges that face them and their children.

Counseling from professionals can also form or make up a support system that will make single parenting easier and more effective. Because single parenting is no ordinary parenting, the parent and the child must learn to accept the situation minus the negative feeling.

Nowadays, single parenting is becoming a normal occurrence. Society is not that judgmental anymore towards the single parent and the child. Probably, it can be because of the immunity due to the rising number of single parents. Anyway, it can be positive because at least, single parents choose to be productive.