"Missing Piece": The Absent Parent Effect

Parenting is a whole world of it's own, one that requires more than just being a parent or just having a child. One of the greatest responsibilities given to humans by God is, parenting. Of course, it is for only those who decided to bring a child into this world. God loves children that He made their parents, caretakers.

With that in mind and with the fact that most humans actually decide to bring a child into the world, it only makes sense and it is right that they take responsibility of their action. But the reality is something else, we've heard of countless people who abandon their children and some even say they had never wanted to have kids.

The increasing rate of single parents in our society is a sign that things are not really getting any better. I've even heard a lady say it's better with single parenting than both parents being around, but I'm guessing it's because of the kind of guy she had her child for. If I didn't experience having a single parent firsthand, it'd be different.

I'd have thought fathers really don't have much to do in the job of parenting, mothers have the bigger role and a child that goes rogue in adulthood will have the mother to blame but then, parenting is for both sides, the mother and the father. If we are honest, one can do the job but there will be a missing piece in that upbringing.

From my experience, my dad has been the only one caring for my siblings and I. The process have never really been smooth for him but somehow, we grew older and he is more relaxed on the upbringing duty. I'm very sure he never planned to be the one doing all that he did for his children but he had no other or better choice.

There's no hiding it, while I appreciate all my dad's effort to make sure his children grow into good people, there were still those times I wished I had my mother around. On so many occasions, I've imagined what could have been different if my mum had been there all along, especially for our upbringing. The work would have been easier.

It's not easy to raise one kid, dad had to care for three on his own. Even though I'll agree with some people who would say it's not about the number but about the efforts made, I'll still point out the fact that a child needs both parents efforts to turn out way better. God had made it that way, two parents for any number of children.

We can't say for sure that a child's future will be much better when he or she is raised by both parents and we can't say same for a child raised by a single parent but one thing that should be clear is, a man and a woman who brings a child to this world should know they owe that the duty to care and love him or her dearly, no excuses.