SINGLE PARENTHOOD

Children are supposed to grow in an intact family where there are both parents who play their expected roles but this has been neglected as we have many single parents now days. It hurts alot when you grow up knowing that your own father or mother the person who was to stand up for you while you grow up abandoned you.

Being a single parent is not always a choice in most cases it's always fate. Single parenting comes with it's share of fun and challenges. The challenges of single parenting especially being a single mother are very overwhelming and it requires a single parent to combine the roles of two people with raising the children and running the house.
A single parent is a person who lives with a child or children and who does not have a spouse or a partner. Single parenthood can be caused by death, divorce, breakup, abandonment, childbirth by a single woman or a single person.

CAUSES OF SINGLE PARENTHOOD
Historically death of a partner was a common cause of single parenting but improvements in maternal care have decreased mortality for those of reproductive age, making death a less common cause of single parenting.

Divorce is another cause of single parenthood. After divorce one parent is allowed to make important decisions about the children involved. Children are affected by divorce in many different ways, varying by the circumstances and age of the child. Young children aged two to six are generally the most fearful of parental separation and often feel abandoned or confused.

Children aged seven to twelve are much better at expressing emotions and accept parentage breakage but often distrust their parents and rely on outside help and encouragement and may experience social and academic problems.
Adolescents cope the worst with divorce, they often struggle most with the change and may even turn away from their family for good dealing with their situations on their own. Adolescents always have problems expressing their feelings.

Another cause of  single parenthood is Single Woman Births. These are pregnancies gotten out of wedlocks. These pregnancies are frequently not allowed in the society as they often result into single parenthood. A partner may leave or abandon the other partner as he or she may  not want to take up the responsibility of taking care of the child. Most of these children end up with their mothers as mostly men abandon women after impregnanting them.

Choice is also another cause of single parenthood. Some individuals choose to become pregnant and parent on their own. Others choose to adopt. This comes about when a person has not found the right person to raise children. Some people may have experienced hardships when they were being raised and so they decide to raise their kids on their own rather than being in marriages which are not good.