Discussion CMS 357 20 Mar Discussion CMS 357 20 Mar wma Audio recording started 11 07 AM Thursday March 20 2014 Thursday March 20 2014 11 06 AM Single Parent Families 1 Single Parents a Demographics i Much more today 1 3 in USA to single Moms ii Likelihood of single parent goes up as education goes down iii Fewer people today are getting married today due to pregnancy than they use to iv Fewer give kids up for adoption v The number of anglo parents are increasing vi Single moms tend to be in lower socioeconomic groups b Issues Challenges i Parents use the baby and and ID it to have the meaning of their life 1 It s a double edge sword they care but it also will affect parenting ii Parents are worried that they will be treated differently than other kids iii Single parents tend to feel and say they feel closer to their kids than dual parent families iv Parental Echelon Coalition 1 The parental coalition has to be a little stronger than the one with the child 2 This is important for upbringing and discipline issues ii Single parents sometimes engage in role reversal 2 Step Families a 1 2 of kids will live inthis kind of condition i It can be difficult to put a finger on authoritative roles b New relationships need to form i New siblings parents these families are different than others c Establishing Roles i Basically all the roles of parenting but with the complication of having step parents 1 In other words who has the say with the biological child of the parent mutual shared 2 Who controls the money 3 Who disciplines d Establish Rules themes and traditions i New step parent may bring new ones when they replace the role of the former parent kids may react negatively ii A new tradition may conflict b Deal with Dialectic between parental and parent child relationship i The tension of how open or close you will be within relationships in this case between the parents and the parent child 1 Whose need comes first the spouses or the childs 2 Time balance between the two 3 Cohabitation a Demographics i Younger ii A smaller group older seniors do cohabit without marriage iii The more the rural area the less you see this therefore more urban areas have this iv More educated v Both tend to work vi Its starting to become a new part of a courtship still frowned upon but ya know lol b Characteristics i Less traditional beliefs than those that do cohabit ii Tend to have more sex than those that don t cohabit iii cohabiting to test the relationship iv Often isnt a made decision it just kind of slides into being c Relational Stability i Less traditional beliefs ii Less stability in the relationship iii Therefore they have less stability 1 These 3 don t work because number 2 didn t necessarily tend to be truth 2 So why look below ii Serial cohabiters 1 If you cohabit with more than 2 people a These tend to have to a higher divorce ate b continues on 25 Mar