Single Mothers

right Mom and the Kids More than one fourth of each(prenominal) tikeren in the United States live with only one p bent (Healthy Children). Single st fraud outs and their children award a variety of financial and worked up complications on a everyday basis. Though hit motherhood can be just as satisfying as sharing these experiences with a partner, in that location are preposterous backbreakingies to its situation. Single Motherhood is when a mother is raising a child without the support of spouse. Around half of todays mothers will spend some(prenominal) cartridge clip as a sole custodial parent (Legal Momentum).Statistics say virtu ally forty- atomic number 23 percent of maven mothers suffer never been married (Legal Momentum). That meaner 55 percent of adept motherhood is due to divorce, abandonment, or remnant of a husband. The reasons why American women are increasingly becoming integrity mothers are teen pregnancy, father disappearances, adoption and the bigg est of all, divorce (Webster University). Of three people interviewed cardinal single motherhood were due to divorced and one was by alternative of never being married. Single motherhood is less ideal and get hold ofs to perform amounts of stress.Epidemiological rivers show that single mothers stand low levels of self-satisfaction and high levels of trouble and depression compared to other mothers (Social Science Computing Cooperative). Not being sufficient to provide for your child, going through a divorce or death of a husband and dealing with the behavior of the kids are causes of a single mothers stress. When explaining how she copes with her situation Veronica Williams says, It was rough, really rough, bear witnessing to manage all they have going on and fitting it in day to day. It was stressful at times, that I took it one day at time did what I could o (Williams).The depression and stress also can come from all the household tasks, everyday jobs, and errands the mothers have to take care of on a day-to-day basis. Their responsibilities are overwhelming for one person. Single mothers have a great amount of weight on their shoulders with pay, house keeping, and parenting with no patron from a spouse. Veronica Williams, a single mother of two schoolgirlish children, explains the biggest financial burden in her family is childcare. Finding child care for my children is a financial burden it can be so expensive, but its something I postulate to o in order to work.I have to get currency to raise them (Williams). Having a spouse there to support maintain finances for the family would take a load of weight off of the single mother. A mother has to perform responsibilities that would traditionally be a fathers contemplate, for example winning out the trash, caring for the law, home repairs and vehicle maintenance. They a lot look to their children for encourage around the house. When asked about how her children jockstraped around the hou se Veronica said, Theyre much four-year-older so they cant do much, but keep their toys picked up.House keeping ill be a tiny easier when they can avail though(Williams). Looking to the children for serve wellant around the house is not an option for single mothers when the children are so young. As the children get a little older they become more helpful and responsible. Christine Wilson, is a teacher and single mother of a fifteen year old daughter, when asked about managing housekeeping she explains, My daughter is able to complete household chores like washing the dishes, dusting the furniture, well when money is involved (Wilson).Since the twentieth Century children with single others were sent out to work earlier than those who had twain parents in their lives (Gordon, Pitied but Not Entitled Single Mothers and the History of Welfare, 1890-1935). As the child gets older the single mothers have a little more help around the house, but whom do they have to turn to for h elp with parenting? Parenting is extremely difficult without a spouse to turn to for advice, assistance, and comfort.Children of single mothers have a significant amount of responsibilities to take care of, because their mothers especially need help when she is raising the child (Kids Health). The extra responsibilities can bring a lot of stress to the child in that situation. These stressful situations can lead children to sleeping disorders, self- esteem issues, and drug and alcohol abuse. Its only normal for children of single mothers to think about what it would be like if their parents were nonetheless together.Single parent children are more likely to have emotional or behavioral problems. Children of single mothers also are more likely to have low self esteem, use drugs or commit suicide (Wisconsin Fathers). Single motherhood much leads to excessive tress and responsibilities for the children in the family. When asked about how she coped with her parents divorce eighteen-ye ar-old student, Miracle Hawkins said l was young so I didnt really understand it, but straightaway it doesnt really bother me. Its probably better that they arent together whateverway.Its actually a life lesson for me. My mother shows me how to be a strong, independent woman and I feel like if they were together I wouldnt have realized some of the things I know now. It helped me to mature much quicker than friends who arent vitality with single mothers(Hawkins) Having only one parent in a childs life forces them to modernise up much faster than a child whose parents are still together. Through observations, interviews, and research it is concluded that single motherhood is a difficult task not only for the mother, but for their children as well.The financial and emotional problems and responsibilities it comes with are overwhelming for a mother with children. Single motherhood is not an ideal lifestyle, however it is manageable for hard workings and dedicated mothers and their kids. eyepatch at the Thurman Brisbane inwardness I observed some of these hard working and dedicated mothers and their children. The Thurman Brisbane Homeless pore provides a variety of programs and services to assist individuals and families who are homeless.Since 2000, Thurman Brisbane Center has provided residential services to more than 15,000 individual men, women and children (Thurman Brisbane Center). When volunteering at the Thurman Brisbane Homeless Shelter I organized humanistic discipline and crafts, instructed, lectureed, and played games with the children living in the shelter. I realized the children learned differently depending on their family situation. I deiced that certain children were more independent, than others. The weekend of Valentines solar day the project of the day was to piddle away Valentines Day cards for their family.There were two little girls, Gabby and Raven, they both were quintette years old, but had very different personalities. I then wondered if that had anything to do with the parenting of the children. Gabby was very quite and startle and didnt ask for any help when we were creating our Valentines Day cards. She colored a picture of her mother, her brother and herself. Gabby spelled everything without any help from me. Ere family. She asked for help drawing hearts on her card and she asked me to help her with spelling when she was writing in her card.After talking and observing the girls a little more, I learned Gabby mother was a single mother living at the shelter with only Gabby and her older son. I then learned that Ravens father, mother, and older sister were also living at the shelter with her. These two girls helped me to understand that family situations can make huge concussion on personality of a child. Working at the Thurman Brisbane Homeless Center has helped me improved my rebel communication skills, develop more patience, and it taught me valuable Job skills.Before I started working at the hom eless shelter, I considered myself a shy person when communicating with people I didnt know. After volunteering for approximately five months, I became more comfortable and confident with myself and with communicating with others. When you learn and blueprint patience you dont get as irritated, stressed or overwhelmed. Working with young kids requires tons of patience, mainly because you have to explain and re-explain, especially when they re young, Just so they can understand. After working with the kids on a a couple of(prenominal) Sundays I have developed that patience I needed.I learned how to talk in a tone that they would listen to and understand and how to take deeply breaths to try to relax when I found myself getting impatient. Working at the shelter taught me valuable Job skills such as, commitment, organization, and ready listening. I act myself to working at the shelter for two hours every other Sunday. Although, there were times when I would have preferred to go to the mall or go to the movies, I knew I had mad a commitment to myself and the module at the shelter to be there. I was determined to finish the Job I started.Another Job skill I improved on at the Thurman Brisbane Center was organization and creativity I had to come up with ideas for arts and crafts to do with the children at the shelter. Each day we brought entertaining activities for them to do and often awarded them with candy, popcorn, and other prizes for the good awesome art projects they created. The activities and projects were based on the forthcoming holidays or the current season. In October, for Halloween time the kids and I made simulated ghost and decorated bags for them to put their trick-or-treating candy.During Thanksgiving holiday we made coloured turkeys out of brown paper bags and construction paper. In January our projects consisted of designing snowmen, snowflakes and mittens all out of construction paper. As mentioned before during the month of February we made Valentines Day cards for families and friends. Before going to the Thurman Brisbane shelter I had to assure I was prepared and organized to make sure the day went smooth. Based on my lesson I had to make sure I had all he art supplies and prizes I would need for the day.I had to focus on what they kids liked, didnt like, and their personalities so I could try to relate to them better and develop relationships with them. I now realize that active listening skills are critical when working with anybody. Working at the Thurman Brisbane Center was very beneficial not only did it help with my research project, but it also helped me to develop mentally. Seeing the grins on the kids faces when we came with activities and candy for them made volunteering worthwhile. I was glad to have made a difference in the lives of the children.