9 Strategies for Managing as a Lone Parent

Parenting is not an easy task, and if you are a single parent, it becomes tougher to raise your child all alone.

Bringing up children alone can be very stressful unless you know how to become a better parent.

I’ve lots of friend’s and a few family members who are single moms or single dads, and yet they are raising their children so well.

Hats-off to all such parents for managing their kids single-handed! I think they inspire people like you and me, isn’t it?

Today’s post is dedicated to every single mother and single father for doing such a great job of raising their children in the best possible way.

So, if you are a single parent, or have been a child raised by a single parent, or know someone who is parenting alone, you might find this post useful.

With changing times and the often seen breakup in families, single parenting has become quite common, especially in places like the United States, where even the divorce rates are pretty high.

Other reasons like personal circumstances, abandonment, and sometimes even death can leave a parent alone to handle and cope with the nurturing, challenges, care-giving, joys, and sorrows meant to be shared by two.

However, single parents, even though they face many challenges while raising their children, do a very good job of it.

Single parenthood can be very overwhelming and stressful at times because you have to raise your kids on your own, without your partner.

According to psychologists, single parents are very overwhelmed initially, which can often lead to problems with disciplining their child. In most cases, the parents become too strict or too lenient.

If one of the parents feels guilty for the separation or death of the other parent, then such parents at times avoid disciplining their kids.

Or they become lenient with house rules, and try to overcompensate their children with gifts.

I have an aunt who lost her husband, and to compensate for his loss, she spoilt her kids by giving them anything they asked for. Disciplining them was a far cry for her!

Parents without partners face many challenges while bringing up their children, yet they raise them to the best of their abilities.

If you are a single parent, then perhaps these are some of the common challenges you might be facing –

• Fatigue and stress, due to having the sole responsibility to take care of your child, especially the day-to-day child care and development.

• Persistent worry and disturbed mental peace because you feel there’s lack of a perfect parental role model for your child due to a missing parent.

• Discipline problems handling your child, especially if you’re working or have existing unmanageable work load.

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• Inadequate emotional support to your child, which could result in behavioral problems in your child. Not to mention that if you have a teen, then parenting teenagers is a difficult task!

• Raising a child and juggling between work, might leave you socially isolated with hardly any friends to share or discuss things with.

• Face lack of adequate financial support or income, and even less access to health care.

This list of challenges that a single parent faces can be endless, and I may not be the best person to talk about it as only the single mom or single dad going through it all, would know more about it.

It might be tougher than what you or I think. But just as there are challenges in life, there are also solutions or ways you can use to overcome such challenges.