by Robin Landry

Created on: September 26, 2008

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are currently about 12.9 million American children living in single parent families as of the end of 2006. This represents about one third of all children under age 18 in the United States. From the time of my divorce in 1993 until my remarriage in 2005 my son and I were part of the single parent family demographic. Raising my son alone from just after his 2nd birthday until he entered his freshman year of high school I have come to appreciate the challenges that single parents face.

While some ultra-conservative political and religious leaders would have us believe that children who are raised in single parent households are doomed from the start I do not believe that this is necessarily the case. By carefully attending to the needs of both their children and themselves single parents can definitely offer their children the same type of loving foundation that will enable them to have lives that are comparable in success and happiness to those of their peers raised in two parent homes.

The basic function of any parent, single or married, is to ensure that the needs of the family are being met. All individuals have a variety of needs including physical, emotional and spiritual. In order to be healthy and successful in life all must be satisfied to some degree.

Fulfilling a child's physical needs is fairly straightforward. From day one parents are used to preparing bottles when their babies are hungry and changing them when they are wet. Children's physical needs for food, shelter, clothing and medical care are basically the same whether there are two parents in the household or one. The challenge for the single parent is associated with meeting those needs from the combined perspectives of time, logistics and financial ability.

The emotional needs of children are slightly more difficult to fulfill but again not new territory for any parent, single or otherwise. Most parents seem to instinctively know that children need love, comfort, security, praise, encouragement and discipline in order to be mentally and emotionally strong.

And finally, spiritual needs which may or may not include formalized religion but almost certainly include instilling values, morals and a sense of right in wrong in children which will allow them to be at peace with themselves and get along with those around them is an important part of any child's development.

I think that the greatest danger for single parents is in ignoring their own needs in the

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