parenting
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Single Parenting and Raising Healthy Children
Single parents and their children constitute a rapidly increasing population. In the past single parenting was seen as a broken system, these units today provide a viable alternative to nuclear families (Kleist, 1999, p. 1). In looking at the characteristics of single parents raising healthy children, I will describe some of the challenges unique to single parenting, and review positive parenting techniques shown to be effective.
Social Development has not prepared individuals to be single parents. Single mothers and single fathers need to establish strong support networks, personal friendships, and positive parenting skills. They need to learn how to synchronize the demands of work, home-care, and supervision of children (Benson, 1993). They need to enforce limits, rules, and boundaries consistently, and to transmit responsibility and values, in order to raise responsible, self-controlled, and healthy children (Cloud, and Townsend, 1998). They need to find ways to improve and maintain their self-esteem. Many single parents learn to live on reduced incomes, find acceptable ways to deal with non-custodial parent, and redefine their relationships with their children...