What Are The Biggest Challenges Facing Single Parents?
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Nobody said it would be easy… But no one ever said it would be so hard! If you’re a single parent raising children alone, it can feel like the weight of the world is on your shoulders. We tend to talk more about the upsides of single parenthood, along with the help, support and community that’s out there for frolos, because we want Frolo to be a positive space for single parents. But it’s important to acknowledge the hard bits, too. Here, we share some of the biggest challenges facing single parents.
Whatever aspects of single parenting you’re finding the hardest, you can find help and support in dealing with them on the Frolo community app. Download the app today and find your people.
What are the biggest challenges for single parents?
We asked the Frolo community what the biggest challenges facing single parent families are, and this is what they said.
Emotional challenges:
- Making friends or dating; anything social is very challenging, so loneliness is hard. Even though you are with your precious ones, you do lose your individuality and adulthood. It’s worth it, but tough.
Feeling lonely? Check out this Frolo group chat for people feeling exactly like you.
- Isolation is hard but also the guilt. You can feel a lot of guilt about just needing to rest or breathe.
- It can be emotional when our kids see their peers and their (nuclear) family dynamics, knowing that theirs is different.
- Other peoples’ expectations are challenging. They can think that we’re doing too much and need to prioritise ourselves, rather than accepting that we’re managing just fine and don’t need anything extra.
- Decision fatigue. Making parental decisions without a soundboard to bounce ideas off. The emotionally complex teenage years would be so much easier if there was a teammate to tackle dilemmas with.
- The biggest challenge is accepting that we are a family, just as we are. We don’t need to try and blend with another family, either.
- Being targeted by the media, societal bias and judgement from others.
- The unbearable weight of it all.
Practical challenges:
- When they are ill, you have to take the time off with them.
- Managing annual leave is so hard, especially in the six week summer holiday.
- Financial pressures: kids are expensive, on top of financing the running of a house solo.
- Coping with a cost of living crisis on a vulnerable income not wanting the children to miss out.
- Childcare. Affordable childcare. Dependable childcare.
- The fear of what would happen to our children if anything were to happen to us.
- Dividing time between the children, housework and daily life and carrying the physical and emotional weight of the entire family.
- Having some time to focus on ourselves. Just an hour to go to a yoga class or relax would be a luxury.
Going it alone? Check out the solo parents group chat on Frolo.
These are just a few of the biggest challenges facing single parents today. We love this summary from one frolo:
‘It’s the challenge is all of it. All the challenges families and individuals can expect to face: money issues, time demands, ill health, conflict, loneliness, childcare struggles, work pressures, they’re all intensified by facing them alone while having the responsibility of one or more little dependent beings. And the world still operates as though there’s always another half to share the load or grandparents around the corner.’
A updated version of Frolo is now available for the best possible app experience, with features on that include enhanced discovery settings, 'Find me on Frolo' and the ability to share meetups and group chats outside the app, plus the ability to post anonymously on Community and to see all your likes in one place with unlimited likes on Dating mode.
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