Everyone starts with a mom and a dad, but there are many situations that can cause that to change.
According to VeryWellFamily, there are around 14 million single parents raising kids in the United States alone. Every day, families deal with their own drama, from getting a pair of matching socks to hardships such as the loss of another family member. Whether it’s bills, taking the kids to practice or even just having the table set for dinner, there’s only so much a person can do by themselves.
LIGHT Counselor, Katrina Spottsville feels parents who raise kids by themselves are prone to more stress.
“The parents have to deal with so many things,” Spottsville said. “It takes a toll on them when they have issues with finances that may cause them to lose electricity or not be able to afford large amounts of food.”
Junior Alex Garcia understands the financial troubles that come with having one parent.
“It’s hard when you have three brothers. You don’t get as much as your classmates, like shoes and stuff, because you only have one income,” Garcia said.
According to Salome Bronnimann of The Master’s College, the stress on the parent will not only leave physical issues, but it can lead to relationship issues with the child.
“Stress can weaken the mother’s immune system, therefore a single mother who juggles many responsibilities more readily falls sick, creating an additional strain,” Bronnimann said.
Spottsville believes emotional issues can be a result of having a single parent or the circumstances that lead to single parenthood such as a parent death.
“Having a parent leave can be really bad for a kid. They can suffer from abandonment and rejection, which can cause them to have serious trust issues in future relationships,” Spottsville said.“ The kid also loses a key role model in their life. A son without his father can be very hard on him, and there are many lessons they won’t be able to learn because they don’t have that parent there to teach them.”
Garcia also feels that there is a lack of attention from his single parent because of the number of siblings his mother has to take care of.
“It just adds even more stress having to provide for that many kids. [My mom] doesn’t have the time to take each of us where we wanna go or the money to let us go off and spend, so sometimes you feel like you can’t even get any attention from your parent,” he said.
There are many different problems you may face when raising a kid on your own or being raised by one parent, but if there is anything you can learn from it, you learn how to love the family you do have more than anything in the world.
“There may be a lot of us in one house with just one mom, but we always will have each others’ backs,” Garcia said. “When one of us is down, we will be there together to pick them up. That bond is unbreakable.”