Some statistics for you

So, to really bring home the facts, some food for thought for you:

• There are 14 million single parents in the US today
• 83.1% of those are mothers, the last 16.9% are fathers

Of those:

• 79.5% of the mothers are employed
• 27% of the mothers live in poverty
• 22% receive medcaid
• 23.5% receive food stamps
• 12% receive some form of housing assitance
• 5% receive TANF

To put it more in perspective, two parent house holds held only 6.7% of the population in poverty.

I'm still looking for more statistics on this, so is just a small portion. I did focus on the mothers more because I am one. But don't think I'll just disregard the fathers. Being a single parent, mom or dad, it's hard. It's you and your kid(s) against the world, with no one by your side to assist. But we do what we have to so we can survive and raise our kids rights. My therapist told me today that I should be commended: I work, I go to school, I raise William and I have a boyfriend. She said I could take the easy route and quit school, she said this is always an option but it's great that I'm not allowing myself that option. To me, that is never an option. In William's karate class his teacher tells them, "Winners NEVER quit, and quitters NEVER win." These are wise words to live by.

Sources:

Dorning, J. (2010, April). PROFESSIONAL WOMEN: VITAL STATISTICS. In pay-equity.org. Retrieved November 16, 2011, from http://www.pay-equity.org/PDFs/ProfWomen.pdf

Single Parent Statistics- What do they tell us? (2011, August 3). In Single Parent Center. Retrieved November 16, 2011, from http://www.singleparentcenter.net/single-parent-statistics.html

Wolf, J. (n.d.). Single Parent Statistics. In About.com Single Parents. Retrieved November 16, 2011, from http://singleparents.about.com/od/legalissues/p/portrait.htm