Single Parents Can Raise Succesful, Happy, Healthy Children

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Can a Single Parent Raise a Successful Child? What is considered societies common family dynamic is no longer the norm however, are the single family children of today destined for failure? For centuries studies have claimed that children that are raised in a home with both a father and a mother, do better that children who are raised by a single parent. They claim that a single parent cannot raise a successful child. Researches claim that children in single parent homes do not do well in school, and they have mental health issues. David Batty wrote an article claiming that children who were raised in a single-parent home were twice more likely to develop mental health problems than those children who were raised with married parents. An article written by Mark Bara said a studied showed: A large majority of studies reviewed show that children from single-parent (SP) homes score lower on tests of cognitive functioning and standardized tests, receive lower GPAs, and complete fewer years of school when compared to children from two -parent (TP) homes. Studies that have mainly addressed single-parent families from birth have usually been on families in which the parents were young, uneducated, and poor. That is not always the case. Most of these studies and research needs to be updated. Times have changed, there are more single parent homes now than ever. According to the U.S. Census (2009): Of the 35 million households in the United States with children under the age of eighteen, more than 10 million-close to one in three-are headed by single parents. Of these, 8.7 million households have single moms at the helm, and 1.5 million are headed by single dads. There are many single parents that raise successful children. Alicia Keys ... ... middle of paper ... ...chiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 47.11 (2012): 1707-715. Friesen, Karen. Facts on Single Parents. http://everydaylife.globalpost.com/single-parents-4202.htm. Batty, David. "Single-parent Families Double Likelihood of Child Mental Illness."Theguardian.com. Guardian News and Media, 21 Feb. 2006. Web. 02 Dec. 2013. Barajas, Mark S. "Academic Achievement of Children in Single Parent Homes: A Critical Review." The Hilltop Review 5.1 (2012). Kennedy, Marge M., and Janet Spencer. King. The Single-parent Family: Living Happily in a Changing World. New York: Crown Trade Paperbacks, 1994. Miller, Naomi. Single Parents by Choice: A Growing Trend in Family Life. New York: Insight, 1992. Kashani, Javad H. Raising Happy Children: A Parent's Guide. New York: Three Rivers, 1998. Levine, Madeline. Teach Your Children Well: Parenting for Authentic Success. New York: Harper, 2012.

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