Do statistics such as those presented in this link worry you? http://www.fatherhood.org/father_factor.asp (I just saw that linked in one of Pdooma’s answers, hope he doesn’t mind me borrowing it!) – I haven’t read the entire exhaustive list, but I’ve read a bit and skimmed the rest. As an individual reading all that, who happens to be a single mother of a child whose father is not in his life, I find that sort of research a little upsetting. It feels like an attack, and a very one sided account – statistics can present a biased account when only given one angle; I see nowhere amongst that have they attempted to represent any research for any positive factors there may be. But having said that, it doesn’t personally worry me a great deal, because I am an individual, not a statistic, and I am comfortable that my family isn’t the sort of family to fall prey to the majority of that.
Single mothers, how do you feel reading things like that? Do you worry that your child may become one of those statistics? Will you/do you take any preventative measures to stop any of that from happening, or do you simply intend to live your life and raise your child(ren) in a good moral background as any parents do and pay no attention to statistics?
Also, this question can be for anyone, do you feel some of those statistics are merely coincidental and not related to the fact that the children are from single parent homes? Ones such as this: "Based on birth and death data for 217,798 children born in Georgia in 1989 and 1990, infants without a father’s name on their birth certificate (17.9 percent of the total) were 2.3 times more likely to die in the first year of life compared to infants with a father’s name on their birth certificate." – or if not coincidence, what do you think could possibly be the link between father not being on the birth certificate and infant mortality? (And same question applies for any of the more bizarre statistics like this).
Just to add that I am deliberately addressing single mothers as opposed to all single parents, because the research given only applies to that. But single dads, or anyone else with their 2pence to offer, feel free to answer too!
Pdooma – with all due respect, that wasn’t the question. I get the initiative of the website, but it is public and therefore for anybody’s eyes, I think I have a right to read it. The statistics are out there in plenty of other places too, I just happen to be linking that site to save myself trawling through Google to find the same research presented with a different message. I have witnessed you personally take offence enough times to things that weren’t directed towards you, so for someone whose answers I usually respect I find your stance a little hypocritical and unhelpful.
I agree with Sage.
"A child with a nonresident father is 54 percent more likely to be poorer than his or her father"
Would a child be richer if their dead beat jobless dad was in the picture?
I don’t think so lol.
Lets say, daddy does have a job but what if the single mommy has a better paying job?
Yup statistics are a bunch of crap.