Single parents will have a tough time of working and parenting children on their own

Research has shown that children who come from broken marriages are more likely to act up than children who are reared by both parents. Nature intended for both parents to play a role in their children’s lives and that’s why it takes two people of the opposite sex to create the gifts that we call well-adjusted children.

Single parents will have a tough time of working and parenting children on their own. There simply isn’t enough time for one parent to effectively earn income and give children all the attention, love and support that they need and still have me-time.

Children need to be exposed to mom and dad to become well-rounded individuals. Mothers nurture their children while dads are there to add another dimension while their children grow up into adulthood.

Many parents opt to homeschool their children these days and not every parent is blessed with enough patience to teach their children. In dual parent families, one parent can educate the children while the other parent brings home the bacon. Even if the children attend formal school, they will need assistance with homework, and if they live with an impatient parent, they will be handicapped as they will not get the benefit of assistance with homework.

Daughters need their moms as they evolve from little girls into adolescence. Adapting to these changes is far easier with mom on hand to guide them than having to speak to dad about menstrual cycles and other girly related issues. Most dads don’t even know enough to help their daughters with this, and it would create an incredible amount of awkwardness between dad and daughter during this already peculiar time in her life.

Moms and dads bring different skills sets to the table, and these help the parents to compliment one another, and when children don’t have that balance, they tend to become rebellious.

Children from single-parent families are more prone to get involved with cigarettes, alcohol and other forms of undesirable behaviour because they miss the permanence of a father figure in their lives. Most children get to stay with their mothers and often the children simply “run over” their mothers. Single parent dads tend to overcompensate for the fact that mom is not around and can tend to let things slide on the discipline front.

It is clear that children are given the best start in life if they are reared by both mom and dad. Parents who rear their children together can operate at optimum levels without having their energy and resources diluted while trying to play the roles of both mom and dad.

A well-adjusted child needs mom and dad’s love, care and nurturing to be able to enjoy a healthy upbringing.  If the parents are unable to stay married, it would be in the child’s best interest to put everything else aside and centre their relationship around building a healthy co-parenting relationship where the child receives emotional and physical support, nurturing and necessary discipline that is not based on the parents’ feelings towards one another.