My sister and I are daughters of a single mother, and I want the stigma around single parents to stop. I have heard so many stereotypes over the years, from people around me talking down to single parents, completely oblivious to the fact that my own mom is a single parent herself.
Even down to reading articles on any social media site about the "problems" with single parents. Some of these stereotypes include assuming all children of single parents do not succeed in school or are troubled youth, and that is unbelievably wrong. My sister and I have always made honor roll in elementary school, middle school and high school, both of us being A and B students. My sister and I are soon finishing our freshman year in college, me going into nursing and my sister going into law, still with a clean academic record.
My mom is my biggest support system, my best friend, the person who guides me when I seem to lose motivation to further my college career, and my hero. To me, my mom is stronger than most other parents. She raised twin daughters at the age of 19 by herself. Sure there were some days she was not sure if she was actually being a good mother or she may have felt like giving up, but she never did. She made many sacrifices throughout her life to make sure we always had food on our plate and clothes on our back. My mom motivates me more than any other person and pushes me to make a bright, fulfilling future for myself. She has taught me to be kind when others are not, to be strong during times I just want to break down, and to keep my head up no matter how insecure or weak I feel.
I want people to know that single parent families are not always a broken home, we don’t all have trouble in school, and we are as good as a family with both parents. I want my mom to know that even though she questions every day if she is a good parent, if she did everything right, or when some days we argue and might not talk for a while, I am forever grateful for everything she has done and hope to be as strong as a mom as she has been. I also want to thank her for the little things she did for me, from coming to my games that were out-of-town, even if it meant leaving work early, never giving up on me or my sister, and being my shoulder to cry on when I was just being an over-emotional teenager. If you have both of your parents in your life, still together, you don’t know how lucky you are, but I wouldn’t trade my mom being a single parent or the life I’ve had for any other. I’m not perfect, my family isn’t perfect either, but that’s OK and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
