Single Parenting

My daughter and me…

My online friend, Christina, who writes the all-inspiring blog SOLO MOM, recently pointed out a new John Hopkins study, “Should Single Parents Stay That Way?” The new study that shows that children who live in environments with high rates of transition — i.e., a single parent who cohabits or remarries but it doesn’t work out, so the single parent and kid must move — are much more likely to have behavioral patterns than children who live in stable two parent–and stable single parent–homes.

I’ll be the first to admit that this study freaks me out.

Because at the moment, we’re in a transition like this, as my daughter and I move out of the Boyfriend’s house. Talk about guilt. Certain factors, however, put me at ease. When we moved in here last year, no other factors in her life were different. My daughter goes to the same school, plays with the same friends, sees her grandpa and aunt just as often, and spends lots of time with her mama, who (most of the time, ha!) is a stable figure in her life. The study shows also that children with extended families nearby, who offer emotional support — as my kid has plenty of — do not experience as much instability.

single parent, children, transition, study, John Hopkins, moving, support, family, mom