Children In Single Parent Homes

2142 Words9 Pages
Abstract Within the United States there are many children suffering from single parent homes. There are three developmental stages that children go through due to single parent homes. The three stages are infancy, school age and adolescence, within these stages they experience psychological and emotional changes. Also children are pulled between two separate households which lead them to accept and cope with the differences within each household. The parents on the other hand, have to also adjust their lifestyle to make the children comfortable so that the children don’t see the difference. In today's society it is very common for a child to grow up in a home where one of the parents is absent. In most cases it is usually the father that is not present, particularly in African American homes. "In the United States today, 16,334,000 children under age 18 live in single mother homes. Single parent homes affect children psychology producing negative effects on the child's esteem, behavior, as well as education. Fatherless homes also take a greater toile particularly on boys, rather than girls. Growing up in a single parent home effects children's self-esteem. They may develop negative feelings about themselves. They start to feel unwanted because they do not have a father that is actively present in their lives. They see how other families, particularly Caucasian families, who have both parents in the home. In a black community it is not uncommon for the father to not be in the home. There are also a large number of children who don't even know who their father is. Children might think of themselves as lesser, or not as good as those who do. This causes repressed anger and resentment towards their father. Children might not always show signs, but it affects them in the inside. Children and Single Parenting begins with the divorce of a couple
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