The factors responsible include death of spouse, pregnancy out of wedlock, divorce and in some few cases, a choice. It is a choice when a woman wants to have a child without a known father. In such a case, she might just go for a sperm donation at a price. Some men also pay to have their children through surrogacy.
In all of these, the one that dominates the causes of single parenting is divorce.
No one goes into a marriage with a plan to divorce but life happens. Some people are good at hiding their true identity from their partners before wedding. Some ladies show humility and submission when dating only to become the boss when the marriage journey starts . Some men also show responsibility during courtship but become irresponsible after marriage. We have many of such identities that could be hidden. When such identities are revealed in the marriage, there is a limit to what the other party can endure.
I frown at separation of couples and I advise that every effort should be put in place to settle any differences. However when it becomes difficult, it is better for both parties to go their separate ways. I have read about extreme cases of a wife killing her husband or husband killing his wife. Misunderstanding shouldn't degenerate to this extent before permanently resolving it and if divorce is the parmerment resolution, so be it.
When it happens, it has many impacts on the parent and the child. The duty of two people becoming that of one person can be overwhelming psychologically.
Let me say this; I advise anyone that get separated from his or her partner to always show concern in the growth of the child. Even if the child is under the custody of one person, both should adopt co-parenting instead of leaving the load for one person.
When this is done, the economic burden is lifted from the shoulders of only one person and this makes caring for the child financially easier. In this case, what would be left to do in taking care of the child is in the moral aspect of his or her upbringing.
Both parents have roles to play in the life of a child. The mother always pampers the child beyond normal while the father checkmates the excesses of the child. Both are very important to achieve a good result. In the absence of any of the parents, the one in custody of the child has a lot of work to do to fill the loopholes created by the other person.
The first thing expected of a single parent who got no support for her partner financially is to work and become financially stable in attending to the needs of the child.
If this is achieved, you have taken control of raising an obedient child who would have no justifiable reason to misbehave and blaming it on lack of proper feeding or other needs. If this is not well handled, you could see a daughter of a single parent delving into prostitution early in her life to make ends meet. You could also see the son of a single parent going into thefts to meet these needs. A single parent should avoid this at all costs.
The problem that led to the separation should also be kept away from the child at a tender age. Even in the absence of the other partner, the child should be brought up in love and affections. He or she shouldn't be made to hate his father or mother as the case may be because of unworkable marriage. The problem is between husband and wife, it should be made to remain there.
Failure to do this is what is responsible for a child brought up by a single parent having a failed marriage when grown. I have seen some men who vehemently disagree with the idea of marrying a girl trained by a single mother. The boy trained by a single parent may have his avoidable shortcomings too. Let the mind of the child develop with love.
One thing I have seen and experienced as a very good advantage of marriage is that both parties help each other to improve on areas of weakness. Some do this in a domineering attitude and that's not the type I am referring to. When the partner is not there, the freedom becomes unlimited.
A single mother dating men recklessly while bringing up her daughter is teaching the girl a very wrong path. A man bringing his friends home to take drugs or bringing women home recklessly is not impacting a good virtue into his son or daughter.
A single parent should checkmate his or her behavior and those he makes friends with.
Finally, a single parent should be very close to his or her child and at the same time gain the child's trust. In such an instance, the child would be ready to tell him or her anything bothering him as he or she develops.
When playing in school with his or her friends, the talks of other children about their parents that are staying together may make a child with a parent miss his or her unavailable mother or father. Emotional support should be offered to him to overcome this.
The support can only come in an atmosphere of love to the child.