Single Parent

13 November 2017 By Subhangini Rajesh Rajput

A child has two persons as parent, a father and a mother. No child is born without them. Then what is this concept of a single parent? We Indians are not familiar with this concept as our culture does not accept them.

India is a poor country and it has a rich cultural heritage, whereas America being the richest country, the children there are poorest. The reason for the contradiction being breakup of the family. In America the children of unmarried mothers, abandoned by their fathers live in poverty. It is only the woman who is left to take care of the child.

Whereas in India, there is a deep sense of commitment to each other. Worries and problems are certainly lessened even if not solved completely. Good times and bad, all become a family responsibility to be tackled and enjoyed together. There is nothing that can supplant family ties. Each member has to work and keep the fire and flame of love burning. We are fortunate enough that our children here in India have a great sense of family responsibility.

Fathers dump the child on the mother as they are aware of their drawbacks like emotions, irresistibility and social awareness. It is very difficult to imagine the growth of a child into a man of a fragmented family, Constant fights between parents, no security, no love tend to take the child away onto wrong paths. They grow up into selfish individuals lacking human emotions.

I strongly believe that we in India are quite lucky to have devoting parents, who really care for their children. Stability, strength, security and support can only come from strong family ties. And a family that stands together can never fall apart. But beware, the western influence is fast catching onto our society too. Some women have taken to the single parent norm. It is a red signal to us and hence we have to be more particular and careful in bringing up our kids so as to avoid our Indian culture from becoming totally westernised.

Subhangini Rajesh Rajput (As published in ‘Vividha – 1995’)

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