h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Are women blighting their children's future by kicking dads to the curb?
The founder of a single mums support group has lashed out at comments which seek to blame women for male teenagers failing in society and for fathers not playing more responsible roles in the rearing of their children.

Kim Sparrow, founder of the organisation Single Mothers Self Defence, defended the right of women to go it alone, blasting what she said was a continuing “witch hunt” against women who have either been forced to, or have, made the choice to raise their families solo.

She said women have good reasons to keep their lives and their children separate from men.

She was responding to evidence given to MPs during a session of the House of Commons home affairs select committee looking at the over-representation of black males in the criminal justice system.


IRRESPONSIBLE PEOPLE

What are the comments she's lashing back at and who made them?

Got any more info?

My sister was a single parent and did a very good job, since she died I have taken on that role and hope I'm doing a good job, it's not an easy task, and the person who made the comment, I would suspect either has no children, has children but has a nanny, is a man and the wife takes care of all the childrens needs, so he doesn't have to do a thing.

single parents can do a good job but boys do need a good role model which is where a dad comes in handy.

if the mum is on their own because there has been reasons to seperate then fair enough but the idea of finding a man just to give you a baby and thats all you want then its worth thinking about whether its a good idea.

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Nicky in a perfect world everyone would stay together for life, but relationships just do not work that way. Why aren't women a good role model for boys? Lets take Mizz p for example, can you see her having any problems at all. I mean lets face it messing with her is literally taking your life in your own hands.

Teenagers are teenagers and can be difficult to control, whether they have both parents, just a mum, just a dad, or such as in my case just an uncle. I personally think that boys needing a 'male' role model, is an outdated and I must say a somewhat chauvinistic view

i didnt say every single mum wont be a good role model. mizzp will do just fine but her little one will have his grandad around. good male role model.

dads come in handy for that purpose but you can get that role model from other men. some women dont have any intention of staying in a relationship once they have got the baby. it not a good idea. i understand some single parents are single because circumstances have dictated its got to be that way.

from what you see on the news the teenage boys getting into trouble havent had the male role model around. just as girls will need their mums for advice boys need a man around to show them how to behave.

Nicky that is complete and utter rubbish, you can't go around claiming that all delinquent teenagers are that way because they have no male role model.

Theres a lot of these teenagers who come from families where both parents are present.

and to add to that, there are an awlful lot of men who don't know how to behave

e.g to name a few: Men who have affairs and split marragies up in the first place, football hooligans, larger louts.

I think it's a case of tarring them all with the same brush. It's highly likely that there *are* single mums out there who kicked their boyfriends/husbands out and are incapable of maintaining discipline and raising a well-adjusted child (and to see the town centre on a Saturday I think most of them live in Swindon).

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Yeah, 'cause it's *never* the women who have the affairs and break up the marriages.

That is not what I said I said SOME men don't know how to behave so are therefore not good role models and gave some examples

No, you said 'an awful lot' implying that men are to blame more often than not.

beg your pardon so I did

I apologize

Accepted, now lets put this horrible episode behind us.

Women have to take responsibility for this too. 50%. Men are blaming single mothers and women are blaming absent fathers. It takes two to make a baby and 2 to raise a child.

Pity my nephew's father doesn't realise that, apparently his career is far more important

Speaking as a single mother who brought up 2 boys;

I was acutely aware that a Male Role Model would have been an ideal scenario for them, but as has already been noted, it's not an ideal world. Their grandfather died when they were children, and I had no other male relatives for them to follow, either. I occaisionally borrowed a friend's husband or brother or a male friend whose outlook I could rely on for the times when "Man Talk" was the only way to deal with their problems, but on the whole, I brought them up singlehandedly.

I decided that although I couldn't give them an example to follow on the knotty problem of "being a Man" as such, I could at least offer them an example of being a Good Human Being - ie, basic common decency, the use of intelligence, and so on. Oh. And a healthy respect for all memebers of society and of themselves.

They're 18 and 19 now; technically adult. Neither have a drug problem, an Asbo or a criminal record. One holds down a full time job (well, until today, when he was made redundant - but thats by the by) and the other attends college as well as a part time job. Both are pretty well socially adjusted, responsible and well motivated people. I'd like them as people and respect them as people reagrdless of the fact that I'm a doting mum.

Its not ideal for anyone to be in a Single Parent situation, speaking from experience; but surely its preferable to have an upbringing with one well adjusted adult, rather than in a dysfuctional familly set up?

Sorry, Radox - d'you want to run that by me again please?

Not really, no. It was a past memory that flashed before my eyes of a single mum I used to go out with. She didn't seem to want a partner just someone to offload all her problems on. It was a very unpleasant time in my life that was brought back by reading this thread. Don't want to think about it, don't want to discuss it, took me 10 years to get over it. Hence the non existant smiley indicating a desire not to be touching subject with a 6 ft barge pole.

Fair enough; consider the question answered and the subject unbroached. I'm sorry to hear of your sorrow.