Single parent positivity
Single mother. The term doesn't always bring up the greatest images in our society does it? More often than not single mothers are portrayed as "benefit scroungers, lazy, work shy".
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But with a quarter of children in the UK now being brought up by a single parent, it begs the question - why?
Alice, who is a single mum of two adorable young children, blogs on More Than Toast about getting to the heart of the issue.
She begins by telling us how a recent technology update left her pondering the state of affairs:
"I finally realised how under-represented single parents are in our society when I last upgraded my iPhone’s OS. The Emoji keyboard updates caused celebrations on Social Media because AT LAST! -alternative families were finally represented in teeny tiny cartoon form. Two mums and a child – brilliant! Gay fathers with boy and a girl babies – excellent! But where were the single parents?"
With the media, entertainment industries iand society in general constantly sidelining single parents - it's no wonder she found the idea of becoming a single mum so difficult.
"I think I would have been quicker to face up to my marriage breaking down had I not felt terrified of becoming a single parent – something I saw as shameful, hopeless and in the bottom echelons of society."
And even on the TV the portrayals of single parents are not positive:
"...the last single mum or dad you saw on TV… mine was Doctor Foster, who started off in a marriage but became a single mum because the alternative was to murder her philanderer of a husband, whoops.
She had great hair and a banging wardrobe though, so we’ll forgive her."
However she admits that the reality of being a single mother who is providing for her family is very different from what she expected - and far more positive.
"In actual fact it’s been a growing experience, an empowering and important time that has taught me to work hard and love my children fiercely ... Single parenthood has also forced me to push myself to success in my professional capacity and I’m proud and happy to support our household on my earnings alone.
Perhaps it's time we all started championing the many great single parents like Alice who are out there giving it their all.
Alice writes in more depth about the portrayal of single parents in our society, as well as her own personal experience. You can read her full, eye-opening post on her blog More Than Toast.
