Single Parent

Merriam-Webster Dictionary/Thesaurus’ definition of the word single:

1 a: not married b: of or relating to celibacy2: unaccompanied by others : LONE, SOLE <the single survivor of the disaster>3 a (1): consisting of or having only one part, feature, or portion <single consonants> (2): consisting of one as opposed to or in contrast with many : UNIFORM <a single standard for men and women> (3): consisting of only one in number <holds to a single ideal> b: having but one whorl of petals or ray flowers <a single rose>4 a: consisting of a separate unique whole : INDIVIDUAL <every single citizen> b: of, relating to, or involving only one person5 a: FRANK, HONEST <a single devotion> b: exclusively attentive <an eye single to the truth>6: UNBROKEN, UNDIVIDED7: having no equal or like : SINGULAR8: designed for the use of one person only <a single room> <a single bed>

I’m simply asking that you put some thought into the word and the label.

The term “single mother”, It’s an oxymoron.

If a woman has one or more child, she is neither unaccompanied nor is she simply “one”. She doesn’t have trouble with loneliness nor is she in need of companionship because of her circumstances she very likely will never be unaccompanied. The face of parenting as we know it has transformed in its entirety. The moral state of our communities has become such that unfortunately being an individual parent is no longer uncommon. In the past couple of decades we have encountered an age where “family” must be redefined. Society has such an emphasis on what the family unit “should” be that many Mothers have lost track of their children in the hunt for Mr. Right. Being a mother and nothing more is still socially unacceptable. Regardless of the effects it has on the young mother and the pressure it puts on her to continue her search for a man who is willing to take on a woman and another man’s children. At this day in age we really should take a second look at what the family unit should consist of. Isn’t it time we take the social pressure off? Parenting without a support system shouldn’t be made more difficult by the added pressure of finding a man to fill that “gaping void”. We have conditioned ourselves and our children to think that you, as a person are not okay of you don’t have another person with to validate your existence. Everybody is telling children to love themselves and accept themselves and yet we force love stories and happily ever afters on them from the time they learn to walk on up. Isn’t it time we liberate ourselves from the stigma? The term “single parent” has to go. The term has no meaning. It doesn’t apply to this generation. It simply adds pressure to parents who are taking on rearing their children without a spouse.