No parent will ever be perfect. No two households will ever be completely alike. Since many individuals are making their own path, there is no possible way to define a “normal family structure”.
Besides… normal is overrated.
Whether you’ve got two moms, two dads, or a guardian instead of “typical” parents, every single person had a unique way of growing up, especially those who found themselves with a single parent.
My dad passed away before I was able to talk, putting my mom in a complicated situation. Raising kids while dealing with the loss of her husband, grief had to be placed aside in order to get me to sleep through the night, teaching me to talk, and help me learn to eat on my own while burying the man she wanted to spend the rest of her life with.
Even after the pain began to subside, she still had many more years to try and figure out how to raise us without the support of another.
After all these years, I don’t think she got enough credit for what she did: taking us on late night trips to the store because we forgot we had a project due the next day, toting us and our friends around town long before we had our licenses, and babying us when we spiked fevers. Each and every action was something that was expected, yet heightened because she was doing it alone.
She couldn’t switch out anytime she needed. The heavy load wasn’t transferable to another for the day… because we didn’t have one.
It was always just her.
I can say she did the best job she possibly could; she excelled at playing all of the roles needed to raise children.
Single parents are just as important and just as good as other family structures. They’re some of the strongest people out there, and they deserve medals upon medals for the work they do for their kids. Trying to live not only your own life but others and thriving while doing so is tiring, impressive, and, honestly, courageous.
However a person is led to be a single parent, they’re doing it on their own and they are strong. Their smiles may be weak and their backs may ache, but they’re doing it all for the love of their children.
So, let’s give it up for single parents.