GARDEN ROUTE | KAROO NEWS - It’s tough being a parent. It’s significantly tougher being a single parent.
However, there may come a time in your life when you want to start a family – even though you don’t have a spouse to walk the journey with you.
While single-parent families are more common than ever, asking yourself the right questions, knowing how to manage some of the unique challenges single parents experience, and knowing what you can do to raise a happy, healthy child, can go a long way to reducing pressure, stress, and fatigue.
What are your motivations for starting a family?
A child should never be born because the parent needs love. A child’s love does not replace the love of a parent, sibling, partner, or friend. A parent’s role is to provide all of the love a child requires, not to ask anything in return.
Are you able to financially maintain a child?
It is critical that you earn sufficient funds to sustain your new family. With two salaries, it’s challenging enough to support a family financially. Supporting a family on one salary is unquestionably more difficult.
Do you have a caring support system in place?
If you don’t have a spouse, do you have other willing support individuals in your life? It’s critical for your and your child’s well-being to have someone who is a constant source of love, attention, and assistance. It may be a grandmother, a best friend, or another single parent with whom you collaborate.
What counts is that they are someone who will answer the phone at 3 a.m. if there is an emergency and who can give you an hour or two off if you need a nap or have to go to an appointment without taking your child with you.
Are you ready for a change in your lifestyle?
After you bring a new dependent into your family, nothing will ever be the same. Make sure you’re ready to embrace change.
Have you completed all of your objectives?
It’s time to start thinking about your “bucket list”. Have you completed everything you set out to do by this stage in your life? Have you achieved the career goals you set for yourself? Have you visited the countries you’d hoped to visit? Have you ever lived in a city or country different from the one where you were born and raised?
It is not impossible to do these things if you have a child; it will simply be a little more challenging. When you decide to become a parent, especially if you’ll be doing it independently, you have to accept that everything will take a little more planning and patience.
Do you have adequate medical and insurance coverage?
It’s critical to be adequately insured when you bring a new life into your home. In terms of health-care costs, this entails having adequate medical coverage and insurance. You should consider gap cover as a viable solution.
It would help if you considered income protection as you devote more time to your child and their well-being. In this way, they’ll be financially secure if something happens to you. It’s also critical that you write your will and keep it in a secure location.
