Controversies on Single Parent Families
Households with single parents have always had some level of stigmatization associated with them. Single parents are under lots of pressure, to provide for the family financially and to rear the children effectively and efficiently. These households usually have different circumstances surrounding them, and these circumstances tend to determine how well the parent will balance the two responsibilities. An imbalance of these responsibilities could result in inadequate parenting, which in turn causes social problems for both the parent and the children (Harper, 2004).
Single parents with divorce experiences need to adapt to the new lives, where the daily needs of the family have to be met without help. There will be a likely decrease in the family income, which could lead to many other changes. Some of the changes include moving to cheaper residential areas and a reduction in the amount of time available for spending with the children and getting to be involved in their lives. For this reason, most psychologists and sociologist have attributed juvenile delinquencies and other social dysfunctions in children, especially teenagers, to single parent families (Harper, 2004).
Parents who are newly divorced have also commonly succumbed to this single parenting pressure, and ended up resorting to alcohol and drug abuse. This usually leads to criminal behavior and unhealthy conditions for children to be raised. Some of the issues of controversy that single parent families could have on the life of a child are as follows.
Delinquency
Sometimes the single parent has to take up two jobs to provide for the family sufficiently or at least close. This means that the parent rarely spends any time at home with the children, and even if he/she is around she would probably be too tired from the day’s hard work and catch some rest. This implies that the children are left with no supervision at all. They will be easily influenced by their...