Special Communication Issues facing Single Parents
Communication is vital in laying solid foundation for family relationships and units. Communication can strengthen and deepen connections, trust, and bond, hence promoting reassurance, shared love, and comfort. Being a single parent, however, comes with more challenges as the parent often faces twice as much stress compared to when both parents are available. Single parenting can result from divorce, separation, or death of one spouse, thus limiting the resources at the disposal of the remaining spouse. Single parents have a hard time raising their children and might face self-doubt and lack of male or female figure in the family to provide guidance appropriately.
Communication creates meaning in a family as they get to communicate over time and build long-term and enduring interactional patterns. Families with a single parent might not have a good relationship with each other since the parent might lack adequate support to engage the family in meaningful and constructive communication that can foster good relationships. A child might also find it difficult to communicate with the parent if the separation was caused by divorce, and the parent with custody lacks a good relationship with the child. Children might find it difficult to address personal and pressing issues with either of the custodians when they are not comfortable while talking to them. This issue might affect the growth and development of the child as they might lack proper moral support needed for holistic growth.
Lack of communication among single parents can also result in self-doubt as single parents might find it hard to know whether they are doing a good job or not. Parenting as couples can be useful during communications since the other spouse can act as a mirror and provide solutions during most challenges. The mutual relationship can help parents merit their positive parenting moments and improve on the weak areas. Single parents often fail to communicate with their better halves during decision-making, and this can make it hard for them to make the right decisions concerning the children’s well-being.
Solutions to the parenting issues
Communication plays a vital role in creating a bond in a family, and lack of it might result in improper upbringing and poor decision-making of the children. Parents can decide to optimize their compensation to make up for the missing gender and traits, including incorporating relatives who can cover up for the missing gender. Parents can exhibit the same behaviors as the opposite gender parent to make their children feel the presence of the absent parent. The children can also be useful in compensation as they can help play the role of either parent to their younger siblings. The issue of self-doubt in making significant decisions concerning the children’s well-being can be solved by engaging in a group of other experienced parents, and asking them on solutions to the problems at hand. For instance, single mothers can surround themselves with other mothers to young kids to learn from their strengths and weaknesses concerning proper parenting.
Conclusion
Single parenting is a hard task that involves twice the stress and challenges associated with parenting. Lack of adequate communication can even make it harder for single parents to raise their children due to the issue of self-doubt and lack of the appropriate gender to facilitate a balanced upbringing. Single parents with self-doubt issues can surround themselves with other parents with and learn from their experience. Single parents who seek to compensate for the absent gender can use relatives where appropriate or encourage their older children to step up and fill the missing gap.
References
Kear, N, C. (2015, July 15). Seven Challenges of Being a Single Mom. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/women-s-mental-health-matters/201507/seven-challenges-being-single-mom
Levin, K. A., Dallago, L., & Currie, C. (2012). The association between adolescent life satisfaction, family structure, family affluence and gender differences in parent–child communication. Social Indicators Research, 106(2), 287-305.