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Photo credit by Beth Rankin

Most people do not set out to be single parents. There are many circumstances that result in a parent needing to raise one or more children on their own. You do not need to look at single parenting in a negative light if you find yourself in this position. You can find benefits of single parenting.

In some cases, raising a child alone is actually better for the child than staying with their other parent. If your ex spouse or partner is abusive or has a severe drug or alcohol problem, living with that person could potentially do more harm than good to your child.

As a single parent, you will be very busy between working and raising your kids on your own. It will not always be easy to have enough time for quality moments with your children. You can actually turn this fact into something positive. You can become even more aware of the importance of making the time to spend precious moments with your children. In fact, you might find that you make even more of an effort to do so than if you were raising your child in a two parent home.

If you have a supportive family, your children might form a greater bond with your extended family than they would if they were being raised by both parents. Many single parents live with their children’s grandparents for awhile. This gives your children the opportunity to form a close bond with their grandparents. In many cases, your kids will also have a good relationship with aunts, uncles and other family members as well.

As a single parent, you will need to work hard. In fact, many single parents must work more than one job. Your child will learn to have a good work ethic in watching you work so hard to provide for them. Many children of single parents home learn to appreciate the hard work of their single parent. Children sometimes do not realize how hard their parents work when they are raised by two parents.

One of the benefits of being a single parent is that you are often able to form an even closer bond with your child or children. You cherish all the special moments with your child. When you are the only parent on whom your child can depend on a regular basis, they are more likely to value you and to also cherish every moment that you spend together. Single parents and their children often have an exceptionally close relationship. The relationship might not be as close if they were raised in a two parent home.

Your children will learn to help out around the house more when they are being raised by a single parent. This will help a child to learn a greater sense of responsibility. In today’s society parents often do not make their children do many chores. In some cases, this is a bad thing in that it teaches children to want rewards without doing any work. This does not occur as frequently in single parent homes where everyone needs to pitch in.

Although most people do not set out to be a single parenting, you can make a single parent home a positive experience. There are ways to turn the challenges of being a single parent home into benefits of being a single parent.