Contemporary society

The interest and ability to collaborate with parents and children is crucial in contemporary society. In the social, economic and political facets of life, the family faces significant challenges. Working with children and parents helps one to consider both the types of families in society and the issues surrounding family members. It also encourages us to face inequality and difficulties in families. In turn, this would produce the solutions possible to support those who are discriminated against in society. Lastly, working with children makes one responsible for the happiness of so many others beyond oneself. Spending time with the children, that is, sharing meals with them, sprinkling glitter on the fishy picture and handing out the meal cookies at snack time, makes one so happy. There are some single parented families that one can visit so to avoid that feeling of loneliness. It makes one a crucial part of the children’s life and development, helping them separate right from wrong.

Introduction

The narrative of the single mother in the modern society has been an ongoing on. Many factors lead to women being single in society, but the foremost ones are divorce, death of husband, women’s pre-marital birth and men deserting the families. The single woman faces many challenges in terms of taking care of the child who survives the father’s demise or fighting the stigma of a fatherless family. Here is a case of a single mother with two children; one is a son, the other, a daughter. The son attends high school while the daughter who is the last-born is in elementary school. The woman is not educated and is working as a house help. She works for a factory manager who pays her only fifty dollars per month. The salary that she earns per month does not even satisfy the family’s basic needs. She lacks the fee and the pocket money to give her son who is in secondary school. The head teacher is sending him away from the school almost every week.

Furthermore, she finds it difficult to even to provide decent clothing for the daughter who is in primary school and she sometimes misses meals. Lastly, her boss makes her to work up to late hours in the house. Despite the low salaries, she cannot be given an off to go and do other works that could generate more income. She reports for work very early in the morning and leaves late in the evening.

Interview questions

Question: Describe your family. Who do you include in your family? What is your family like?

Answer: I have a family of three, a son, a daughter and me. I only include my two children. My family likes hard work towards achieving their goals.

Question: Tell me how you came to be a single parent.

Answer: I became a single parent when my husband left on after a long period of marital abuse. He was a drug addict and he would only fight me whenever I asked him to help in the house.

Question: What are the special joys/benefits of being a single parent?

Answer: The only benefit of being single parent is freedom. Conflict becomes minimal in the family because of the absence of the husband who controlled me and yet did not like to be responsible himself.

Question: What are the special challenges of being a single parent?

Answer: Special challenges are loneliness, lack of some necessities as I have mantioned, lack of possessions and gifts for the kids that could have been provided by the father. Another one is the lack of the security that is normally being given by the husbands among others.

Question: What were your expectations of being a single parent before you had your child /children?

Answer:  My expectation was that life for a single parent would be less stressful because of the absence of possible abuse by the husband.

Question: How are those expectations the same/different from the realities of parenting?

Answer: The expectations are so different from the realities of parenting, because whatever I expected did not work out. For instance, if you expect freedom in single parenting, it will not work because even finding the time for freedom is not there. You are so busy looking for ways of making a living.

Question: What is the greatest struggle in being a single?

Answers: As I have said, making a living, looking for the necessities for the family. You become challenged in providing food, education, shelter and so on.

Question: Have you joined any group as a single parent?

Answer: Yes, I have joined some support groups with the purpose of sharing our hard experiences and looking for possible solutions.

Question: As far as the groups are concerned, how have they helped you as a single parent?

Answer: The support groups have been helpful especially in giving counsel on how to help children who get into fits of crying because they wonder why they are not having fathers like the others, why life is so difficult. We have discovered that we all share basic concerns, fears, anxieties, and that gives us the courage to soldier on.

Question: What advice can you give to those who are out there and have not experienced this kind of life?

Answer: The best advice I can give is just to tell them that even though life may not be pleasant, you have to appreciate it all the same. Count your blessings and move on.