Single Mothers by Choice Choosing What’s Best for the Child

A Single Mother by Choice is the Opposite of Selfish

Single mothers by choice are often condemned by traditionalists as being selfish in their choice to be a single mother by choice.   Traditionalists often forget that marriage is full of arguments, not all men make good fathers, and time otherwise spent with a husband can be devoted to a child.  There are also thousands of children who can be placed with a single mother waiting for a devoted and permanent adoptive mom.  In parenting, love trumps money.

Single mothers by choice do not make their choice without great consideration.  It’s no secret that children require attentiveness, energy, unconditional love – and money.  A woman who is contemplating being a single mother by choice must consider her single mother support system, childcare arrangements, the future of single mother dating and the possibility of marriage.  Older single mothers by choice consider their biological clock versus the freedom of not having children.  Teenage pregnant moms must consider the disadvantages of being a single teen mother and single mother welfare.  Once the decision to have a child being a single mother is made - the single mother has chosen to give her life as she knows it to benefit the life of an unknown other.

Famous Single Mothers and Children from Single Mothers by Choice

Single mothers by choice, and by circumstance, have throughout history raised successful children, and have been successful as parents.  A 21 year old widow of four children, (although originally not a single mother by choice), invented signal flares used for war in the 1800s.  A struggling single mom in the 1950s invented whiteout and became a millionaire. Maya Angelou, notable historian, poet, actress, university instructor, civil rights activist and Pulitzer Prize winner, suffered sexual abuse didn’t talk for five years, then was raised by her single grandmother by choice, and was later a single mother by choice at 16 years old.  

Actress Angela Bassett was raised by a single mother.  The founder of Oakes College at the University of California Santa Cruz, John Herman Blake, was one child in a family of seven raised by a single mother.  The second African-American Congressman, Melvin Watt, was raised by a teen mom, and was often without electric and water – but his single mother by choice always encouraged him to read. 

Research NASA engineer John Terry was raised in the projects by his single mother.  And in 2009, the son of a single mother, Barak Obama, was inaugurated as President of the United States.

Although some of these single mothers were single mothers not by choice, they were all capable or raising incredible contributors to our nation’s history.  These are only a fraction of the historical figures that have shaped our nation after being raised by a single mother by choice.  There are thousands of untold stories from single mothers who made the decision to be a single mother by choice.

The Trend for Positive Outcomes from Single Mothers by Choice Continues

Single mothers by choice are a symbol of courage, perseverance and unconditional love.  Ten million single mothers of the 21st century have rebelled against the shameful status that single mothers have withstood from a marriage-centric society – and have proven that single mothers by choice are capable of raising happy, healthy children.  Prospects for the children of single mothers by choice are promising.  

Today, over 37% of the births in the US are to single mothers by choice. The Center for Disease Control reports reductions in teen pregnancies, teen smoking - and an increase in life spans - have coincided with the increase in single mothers.  A 2008 time study from the University of Maryland showed that single mothers spend 90% of the same time with their children as married mothers do – despite the fact that more single mothers work full time than married mothers.  Single mothers make children their priority. 

Single mothers by choice are dedicated to their children, and their life revolves around them.  A single mother by choice chooses to give her life for another – and that choice is the most unselfish choice.

Websites of Interest to Single Mothers by Choice:

Single Mothers by Choice
Single Mothers Organization
Science Daily Report Single Mothers and Time