I have a lot of respect for single parents. That's probably because I was raised in a single parent household and because my mom was also raised in a single parent household.

There's a lot of reasons everyone should have respect for these kinds of households, instead of treating them like punchlines to jokes that aren't funny.

Firstly, it's expensive to raise a child in the 21st Century. For my region (the West Coast) it will cost on average $252,972 to raise a child from birth to the age of 18 by yourself. This year it's estimated that my mom will spend a little over $9,000 on me. But I participate in various activities at school that cost money, plus I have outside of school activities that alone cost around $1,000 a year. That means my mom is going to be spending around $10,500 on me for my final year of school.

Luckily my mom receives some child support to help her pay for all these costs but most if it comes out of her pocket.

Besides the financial part of being a single parent, there are so many other things these parents have to do by themselves.

My mom had to balance taking care of me when I was sick with other household chores and work. She had to help me through my first heartbreak by herself. She has to deal with my moodiness by herself and she had to support me when I was diagnosed with depression by herself.

My mom has become my hero. I've watched in awe countless times as she's fixed her own car problems, fixed leaky pipes and do other things that most consider to be a "man's job."

I hope to be half the mom she is. Even when things get tough, she never stops. She has never missed one of my band concerts, she's the one who helps me pick out dresses for every dance I go to and on top of everything, she's made it her goal to make sure I've had the best high school experience I could possibly have.

So before you shame a single mother or make a joke about single parent households, put yourself in the shoes of my mother and other single parents. They work harder than anyone else and don't receive the credit they deserve. They are my heroes.