I don't know the answer to that question and I hope my kids never have to find out. My parents got divorced by the time I'd been out of the house for at least five years. I can't imagine my life without my father because even he spent most of his working hours working, the rest of the time he was always with us, his family. My husband and I don't have the perfect relationship, but we try to give our kids everything our parents gave us and more–in terms of love and time.
To say it's better to be raised by a single mom than by both parents it's ludicrous because it totally depends on the people involved and the details of the situation. However, I will admit that I have no idea how single moms manage to raise successful and well-mannered kids on their own. Most days, I feel like I can't do it and I'm anything but alone in this venture.
I've always admired single moms. I have a few in my own family. My mom's oldest sister raised her kids by herself in a new country where she pretty much had no one to turn to for help. My cousins are both successful professionals and parents. But it wasn't until recently, when I found myself with two very hard-headed small children testing me every step of the way, that I really stopped to analyze how incredibly difficult being a single mom must be.
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I mean, whenever I feel like I'm going crazy or I'm going to lose my patience in a very bad way, I just reach for my husband and he takes over. Not to mention that we share pretty much all responsibilities: mealtime, bath time, bedtime, sick time, homework time, etc., etc. And I simply can't imagine doing all those things on my own. In fact, my husband has been working nights lately and I've been complaining how difficult it is to take care of everything by myself.
So I've no idea if it's better to be raised by a single mom or not, but I do know that the ones I know do an outstanding job considering everything they have going against them!
Image via Ed Yourdon/flickr
