There are several causes for having single parents in our society and these include divorce, death or teenage pregnancy. In some cases it may be a choice to be a single parent.
While it is an imperative that we should work towards addressing the causes of this phenomenon with a view to minimising the number of single parents, the reality is that there will always be single parents in society. Therefore we have to implement systems which will help to make life easier and more productive for them.
According to US Census Bureau report, the duration 1994-2006, saw a steady rate of 9% single parent homes in US. The trend has seen more women as single parent than men. However, in the recent times men are also seen as single parents. According to statistics on single parent homes, 14% Australians households were single parent homes in 2003 and in 2005 United Kingdom saw 5.9 million families headed by single parents. Single parent homes are not just a phenomenon in the West, but a global one. Single parent homes are more at risk of desired outcomes, but with a better understanding of the dilemmas, worries and problems, the outcomes can be desired ones.
Divorce has been identified as the major reason for single parent homes. A divorce leads to emotional trauma and psychological impairments not only in children, but also amongst family members. In such a situation, when one parent takes over the house, he/she not only has to deal with child’s trauma but even theirs. The most common mistake made by single parents is hiding their emotional frame of mind. This way the children learn to understand you better and vice-versa. This will help your child to deal with ‘blaming the parent game’, making him respect you. It’s not the child’s fault, but the sudden turn of events is what they cannot cope with.
Growing up, especially the teenage and adolescence years, is the rocky time of child development. Single parents, need to make extra effort to deal with children in this age bracket. It’s at this juncture, that children experiment with their innocence and turn rebellious. In the worst single parent home cases, children are seen ticking to drug abuse, fall to sexual abuse and indulge in alcohol abuse. The remedy to avoid and avert such cases is developing healthy relationships. There are many self-help books to show you how to build relationships and maintain them. Do not go on a ‘No Spree’, as it makes your child think that you are against their best interests. Try and make them understand the logic behind the activity. Doing the activities in a fun way can send the message across. Too much of preaching is bad for health.

Other than psychological and emotional, single parent homes are likely to suffer from economic disparities. Having a poor financial back-up can lead to poor schooling of the child and poor standard of living too. It becomes difficult for one parent to share the time of the day between work and the child. Over work, is an offshoot of economic instability? This causes difficulty in functioning for both the parent and the child. The child gets left at home for a good amount of time, which in many cases results in taking recourse to unpleasant activities.
You want to be and make an effort in the same direction.
Against this backdrop our government recently delivered on yet another promise when it recently implemented a financial scheme to help single parents to tap their entrepreneurial skills and thereby ease their financial burdens. And in this regard the Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry (GBTI) must be commended for coming aboard with their recently launched Women of Worth loaning programme which will see some $500 million to be lent to single mothers, between 18 and 60, earning less than $40,000 per month, and whose names are on the Single Parent Register at the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security. They will be able to borrow up to $250,000 for a series of small business ventures, and in most cases they will have a three-month moratorium on repayment and will have 24 months to repay at a rate of six percent.
The government is putting $50 million towards helping with the supporting mechanism for the programme.
And President Jagdeo rightfully was in high praise for the excellent initiative of GBTI.
This is visionary thinking on the part of GBTI…in the future they will be small borrowers and then the big ones,” he said.
He also urged the bank to understand the peculiarities of the women borrowers and the time constraints and other challenges that they face. He noted that the image of a bank manager with a tie and with a stack of forms on his desk is enough to intimidate borrowers. Here, he urged the bank to have a human face.
One would hope that other similar financial institutions would try to emulate this fine initiative by GBTI.