Rev Njue: How to ace single parenting
A father holding his little daughter's hand in the backdrop of a sunset. Single parents can experience stress-related burnout.
What you need to know:
- Effects of a breakup and entry into a new relationship can bear severe repercussions including; low performances in school and poor peer relations.
- Sociologists suggest that single-parented children, often receive less effective parenting and discipline.
- Single parents report that the number of single parents who work full-time have less time and energy to monitor their children and discipline effectively.
Raising children can be difficult, under any circumstance. Without a partner, more is at stake.
As a single parent, you may have sole responsibility for all aspects of day-to-day child care. Single parents can experience stress-related burnout. If this situation is mishandled by the caregiver, behavioural problems are likely to arise. Research has shown that children from single-parent households have a higher risk of depression, lower esteem, a sense of hopelessness and juvenile delinquency. Effects of a breakup and entry into a new relationship can bear severe repercussions including; low performances in school and poor peer relations. Sociologists suggest that single-parented children, often receive less effective parenting and discipline. Single parents report that the number of single parents who work full-time have less time and energy to monitor their children and discipline effectively.
Research has shown that children from single-parent households have a higher risk of depression.
Challenges in such a setup differ for both males and females and in most cases, it is worsened by the inclusion of children into the equation. In most cases, single parenting tends to affect the parent negatively, trickling down to the child, who then is affected psychologically.
Facilitator of change
The situation worsens when one parent demonises the other in the presence of the child. While this is meant to draw the child to you, the results deteriorate in later stages of the child's life. A powerful facilitator of change would be to accept the state of the problem and take a fresh start. It is paramount to redirect your energy to more productive activities that are geared to foster positive thoughts about life.
Although single parenting can take a toll on these families, there are also benefits to it.
Children who can overcome this loss can compensate for the absence of another parent in the household. These families are associated with children who are independent and self-reliant.
Fertile environment
To get optimal results, a parent needs to provide a fertile environment. Nothing nourishes and blossoms in an arid environment. The fact that one is from a single parenting family does not necessarily mean that they will fail in life.
The former President of the United States of America, Bill Clinton was abandoned by his father when he was only six months in the mother’s womb. His father later died in a tragic automobile accident before meeting him.
Premature death denied Clinton an opportunity to meet his real father. Despite such a challenge, he was able to rise above all his limitations by becoming the president of one of the most powerful nations in the world.
