A curious question for the single parents

[ohmum]

Im not a single mum however Im curious of what single parents think.
I have noticed lately that in the media when a situation has happened to a family if the mother is married there in no mention of the woman being a married mother however if it is a mother who is single always without fail they would report "single mother" even though the marital status of the mum has no bearing to the situation. so my question is do you get angry when this happens (esp when it comes into stereotyping) what are your thoughts? Me well a parent is a parent no matter if your married partnered single or whatever!

[little bean]

:detective: I hadn't noticed that but I'll probably hear it on the news all the time now! I have noticed, however, that the newsreaders often mention a person's race when reporting on an assault or a break-in, whether it's relevant to the story or not. No wonder people end up will all kinds of pre-conceived, negative ideas about different groups of people!!

I'm the same person I was before I split up with my husband - an honest person, a schoolteacher, a great mum, an eternal optimist. I just decided to leave an unhealthy relationship - for myself and for the example it was setting for DD.

The media seems to like to tar all people with the same brush but that's not very fair. Certainly, there are people out there who are being irresponsible, popping out babies right left and centre, and milking the system for payments.... but that's certainly not the case for every single mum.

[justme77]

absolutely. its an irrelevant label that is over used. marital status is noones business. I very rarely refer to myself as a "single mother", i just say that I have kids.

[Fuchsia!]

I think it depends on what they are referring to. Sometimes when they mention a single mum they are expressing how hard it is and their struggles, where other times like when a current affair is doing something on young single mothers and how they waste their money and bag the cr@p out of them is when i get angry

[Amara]

Yes I have noticed it, yet I have not noticed "the married mother of 3", yet lots of news articles must be about married women. Oh & they never say single dad or married dad. Typical.

[tyler's mum]

It's things like that that makes single mums look bad iykwim

[JadeyBaby2]

I think it depends on what they are referring to. Sometimes when they mention a single mum they are expressing how hard it is and their struggles, where other times like when a current affair is doing something on young single mothers and how they waste their money and bag the cr@p out of them is when i get angry

:iagree: I don't think that because someone chooses to live their life a certain way means that others with similar circumstances should be pinned with the same broach, not just referring to single parents (race, disabilities, homeless etc).

[crazymuma]

I think it depends on what they are referring to. Sometimes when they mention a single mum they are expressing how hard it is and their struggles, where other times like when a current affair is doing something on young single mothers and how they waste their money and bag the cr@p out of them is when i get angry


When talking about something negative they are just feeding peoples ignorance - same as when race comes into it :banghead::hair:

[SmileyBJ]

Probably because its not the stereotypical norm... They wouldn't mention a "partnered" mother, as its pretty normal for a Mother to have a partner as this is how having children usually works.

I feel proud to be a single mum since its so much more work, responsibility etc compared to having a partner, so i don't actually mind them saying "single parent".

[nugglyboysmum]

yes i have def noticed it, and i think its just typical media beat up of stories. People get picked on for all sorts of reasons and being a single mother is just one of them.