Essay on Growing Up with a Single Parent
Blessed are those children who receive the gift of love and togetherness from their parents. Parents play a key role in shaping the overall development of a child by nurturing them generously and shaping up their personalities.
The caring of father and love of mother helps in the physical and mental growth of the child.
However, not every child is fortunate enough to have both parents by his/her side and the task is not easy for bringing up the child single-handedly by the parent either.
There is always a sense of emptiness that lulls around however there is another side of the coin, not every family is perfect and at times children raised by single parents turn out to be much happier and emerge victorious in their lives.
Ability to sustain a relationship
Children brought up by single parents are much more mature as compared to those brought up by both parents.
As they are brought up single-handedly, they value relationships when they grow older, to them each and every relationship is precious.
They have a sense of perseverance and though at times they might look strong and rigid, but they have an emotional and vulnerable side which they do not show to others easily.
Since they have grown up by learning from their own experiences they understand the meaning of holding to a relationship and hence they will never intend to break away from a strong bonding.
Understanding the value of patience and tolerance
Children brought up by single parents have a lot of patience in them as they have been exposed to the complexities of life at an early age.
Since the single parent has to look after both the family as well as professional responsibilities, the child at an early age understand the value being patient and always tries himself/herself to adjust to the situation.
Such children value the meaning of being calm and composed even under severe circumstances. They have an in-born tendency to never give up things easily and they can tolerate a lot of pain and hardship.
Being independent and quick at decision making
Children are often pampered by both the parents and are always looked after their needs by their parents.
Children possessing caring parents receive all the love, care and attention but children of single parents learn it from their growing phase that their parents won’t be by their side all the time.
Thus, such children learn to do things by themselves. As no one is in the house to look after they participate in domestic responsibilities dutifully. It might look to be difficult at times but under such situation, the children learn to become independent earlier, they can look after themselves and can take quick decisions.
Tensed situations often arise between single parent and child
Often situations turn hostile between the single parent and child as sometimes the child demands attention while the parent has other responsibilities to look for.
Under such conditions the child broods and feels lonely and isolated and on the other hand, the parent while in his/her work regrets for not being able to provide quality time for the child.
It is a common phenomenon and differences arise between the child and the single parent, particularly when the child is still young and unable to take right or wrong decision by himself/herself.
However, as they grow older they understand the situation. Nervousness and dejection always haunt at different points of time up on such children.
Reliable companions
Even though the majority of children of single parents tend to be lonely and emotional but they are more reliable, particularly one can trust upon them as they have already seen much more difficult obstacles in their lives.
Since maturity hits them earlier, they understand where their strong and weaker points lie.
They can also provide some sound advice to others due to the personal experiences they face in their lives. They have a helpful and caregiving nature. They can be counted as best friends to whom one can rely upon under complex situations.
Being more cautious in terms of commitment
Nobody wants to break a beautiful relationship at his/her own will, when things do not work out as they were supposed to be, the relationship fades away.
Children of single parents are always aware of it, they are extra cautious and hold them back from committing into a serious relationship often.
The reason behind such an action is obvious because of their own personal experiences at home.
They have already faced the broken relationship effects and hence think twice before going in a relationship as a fear psychosis often works in their mind with the probable assumption of relationship going wrong.
It should not be looked upon as if they are commitment phobic but they take a little time to enter into a relationship, until they are completely sure they refrain from it.
Children idolize their single parents
Children born and brought up by both the parents develop a neutral and balanced view of life, however, children of single parents generally get inclined to their single parent’s perspectives.
For example, if a boy child is raised by a single mother, he will be more aware of the needs and psychology of a woman and similarly if a girl child is raised by a single father, she will get to know more about the psychological traits of men.
Single parents become the role models of their children, they become their buddies, caregivers and best friends with whom they can share their feelings and emotions.
Even though the fact lies that children brought up by single parents often feel neglected and get lonely at times but not every children who are brought up by both parents are happy either.
There are unhappy families where the parents fight every single day with each other and it is the child who goes through the mental trauma.
There are dysfunctional families where children are unable to bring out their creative abilities. Thus, growing up with a single parent has its own set of positivity as well as drawbacks and it can neither be termed as a good or bad thing, situations and circumstances make it all.
