Growing up in a single parent household was interesting to say the least. There was one parent doing their best to raise a child or children to provide a better future for them. The family dynamic often faced hardships because the lone parent had to fill both positions as a mother and a father, which often led to disputes between the parent and child. Children who are raised in single-parent homes are less likely to receive a college education, however, the ones that end up going to college are at an advantage when it comes to providing for themselves and living on their own.
Understanding responsibility
All those chores you did as a kid that seemed like slave labor at the times made you realize that it’s important to keep your space clean and presentable at all times. Not only do you know how often to clean, but also how to thoroughly clean. It’s something you won’t appreciate until you live in a house with other people that make a mess of common areas. You get upset when one of your roommates leaves one plate in the sink, because you’re accustomed to the blood-curdling screams you’d hear if you did that at home.
The importance of a dollar
College is this weird place where high school seniors decide to go because their parents tell them too. Most of these kids come from nuclear families, which are two parent households with dependent children. Children of single parent homes don’t have the disposable income to spend online or on the weekends, because we’re saving up for something we want and we won’t be satisfied until we earned it. The lifestyle we had back home taught us to be frugal at times, spend on necessary things, and how to budget for the future.
Respecting authoritative figures
When you grow up with one parent, respect is important, because you see that person every day, and disrespecting them will make life a living hell, because they’ve done everything for you. I still hear and see kids with two parents disrespect their parents and other adult figures. Children of single parent homes know that respect is earned, because we had to grow with one parent, go through the typical slip-ups, and earn back our parent’s trust and respect.
My problems could be worse
We all have our issues, but being raised by a sole parent makes you realize it could be a lot worse. Oh, I’m so sorry the Starbucks barista got your order wrong, but please stop complaining about it, because your upper class problems aren’t real, at all. We know what a real problem is, and hearing of all the “problems” children from nuclear families have make us laugh. We acknowledge our problems and solve them. There’s no extra complaining, only solving.
We don’t dwell on personal issues
As I previously mentioned, whenever kids from single parent homes have an issue, they solve it and move on from it. There were a lot of things we could have gotten yelled at for by our single parent, and sometimes it seemed unfair that we were punished. We learned to choose our battles wisely with the one parent who raised us, and in college, we recognize relevant problems and fight for those ones. The irrelevant ones typically fade out anyway, so we let those ones remain irrelevant and petty.
Overall, there’s so much I’m thankful for when it comes to my mom, because she worked so hard for 18 years to get me to where I am today. I could never thank her enough for everything she’s done for me. Her sacrifices will never go unnoticed and unappreciated, and I hope I’ll be half the parent she was to me.
