Stereotypes, stigmas and assumptions :(

Most people would agree that being a single parent is a tough job, yet there are still some stereotypes, stigmas and assumptions people make about this sub culture. For example, one’s first thought might be that a single parent made a mistake in having their child(ren). They “screwed up” as a teen and the child was unplanned and unwanted. This is not necessarily the case at all.

Another assumption might be that there are drugs or criminal offenses involved with the missing parent; or some sort of dramatic reasoning for why they are not a part of their child’s life. Perhaps they are just irresponsible, plain and simple. Or perhaps, there is a valid and legitimate reason for not being a good parent… an illness, a death?

People can even go as far as putting single parents into a box when it comes to values, beliefs and religion. A single mom walks into a Catholic church with two little kids and no father, and people assume she is divorced or had her children entirely outside the realm of marriage. From there, the judgments can flourish.

Another big stereotype against single parents is that they are uneducated and therefore unable to get a good job and make a decent salary. Even if a parent is young, if cannot be assumed they are of any less intelligence or education than any other parent.

Why I Chose Single Parenting

I have decided to examine and analyze the sub culture of single parenting. This is a subculture that is somewhat foreign to me because my own parents have been together since they were in high school and I’ve always had two parents working as a team to raise me and to give me guidance. However, while this is something that I have no personal experience with in my own home, I do have many friends who were raised by one parent. It is not a rarity to see a single parent raising a family in our culture today, yet I think there are still a lot of stigmas and questions behind it. I will be exchanging some of my research with Aimee Shafner who is also investigating single parenting. She will be interviewing a middle aged single mother raising three children. I will be interviewing one of my good friends and old roommates from home who is a single father of a two year old. He is someone who a lot of people know of in my town, but also someone who most people don’t know well. On many occasions I have heard people say judgmental comments about him and how he raises his child. These ignorant comments have always made me angry because people don’t understand half of the struggles he has gone through with his son and his son’s mother. For this reason, I wanted to explore this prejudice, analyze the reasons behind the assumptions people make, and perhaps shed some positive light on the subculture of single parenting.