Being a single parent family is hard for many people,but as for a recent newspaper article published on Saturday, June 6,2009 it talks about how this single mother, Valavia Ranadi has taken good care of her 42-year old son Agapito Muawalu who at the age of seven was a class two student of a prominent primary school, fell victim to a road accident.He is handicapped and blind.

Although the two live alone in a two bedroom house with unhygienic environment,she gives all her faithful responsibility to her one and only son.Valavia who does not receive any financial assistance apart from Social welfare,plants their own food,including root crops and vegetables.

Valavia describes how it is hard for her to see her son grow inside a small room when he could have been out in the world with a successful career and a good life.

At time she goes out fishing for their meal and pulls cassava from their plantation.She also told the newspaper about how she used to nurse her nurse her son in those young days, she could carry him to the toilet and bathroom outside their house.Today, she no longer does that since age is catching up with her.

But despite the hardships they have endured, Valavia believes that the important element of life,which they have not lost sight of, is their commitment to god.

When we finally ask, the Lord will always give us a good answer to our questions."

This article basically talks about how single parent mothers give or find other alternatives to help them survive in this difficult world.

Single parent families

For me having both of my parents is really a blessing. But I know that one day one of them is going to go away.

One of the most striking changes in family structure over the last twenty years has been the increase of single parent families.

In this family there is only one parent in the household raising the children. Due to high divorce rates and adults choosing not

to marry, this is currently the fastest growing family form in many countries including Fiji.

More than half of all children will spend some of their lives in a single-parent family. Currently, 88 percent of these families

are headed by women.

Links- (Single-Parent Families - Demographic Trends, Mother-only And Father-only Families, Challenges Of Single-parenting)

In 1970, the number of single parent families with children under the age of 18 was 3.8 million; by 1990 the number had

more than doubled to 9.7 million. For the first time in history, children are most likely to live in a single parent family for

reasons other than the death of a parent. One in four children are born with their mothers not married, usually teenage

mothers. One of the most expensive things for a single parent is child care.


Too often children living in single parent households have to contend with negative stereotypes and hurtful remarks made by

insensitive adults. Regardless of whether the single parent family exists as result of divorce or death of the other parent, or

the parent choosing not to marry, the child is clearly not responsible for the circumstances. However, it is often the child who

pays the price. On the other hand, single families often have less tension compared to the tension in families before divorce.

With reduced tension, the single parent can focus more clearly on the child’s needs. Usually parents and children are more

willing to co-operate with each other to find solutions to solve household problems in single parent families.

Single parenting is strongly associated with an increased risk of a number of negative social, behavioral and emotional

outcomes for children. However while the association is strong, on balance the effect size and the actual numbers affected are

modest. Most children from single parent families do well. Many factors influence how children develop in single-parent

families: the parent's age, education level, and occupation; the family's income, and the family's support network of friends

and extended family members (including the non-resident parent, if available). Disadvantages in these factors that often

accompany single parenting appear to cause most of this association rather than single parenting itself.

Shocking headlines do get published; for example a 2003 Swedish study, stated that those living with a single parent were

about three times more likely to kill themselves or end up in the hospital after an attempted suicide by the age of 26 than

children living with two parents, however this only happened to 2.2 percent of girls and 1 percent of boys. While such a

finding is concerning, clearly the vast majority of the children of single parents do not kill themselves and are under-

represented Children of single parents are very likely to share more household responsibilities, including looking after

themselves. Single parents are more likely to discuss things with their children (usually financial or family

decisions) which, in other families, are usually discussed only between parents.