Are You Single Parent And have Depression? Read This Post.

 

Single parenting puts extra strain on single parents that lead to ` the development of depression in them. Parenting is not an easy task, even when both parents are involved. But in such cases, parenting duties are divided between the two, and both get the chance to breathe. In single parenting, one has to do all the tasks within the house and outside the home. Single parents have to deal with so many unwanted and unbearable conditions single-handedly without any help. All such conditions and helplessness cause depression in them. Here I will discuss some of the keen parameters that become the source of depression in single parents. 

Guilt For Doing Less

Single parents have to fight both household and workplace challenges. Their children rely on them for financial as well as nurture needs. But to run both the places, they have to leave one at a time. In recent age, a few single parents can have the luxury of doing online work from home. But most of them have to go to offices to make ends meet. During this time of the day, they have no other option but to leave their children at nurseries or daycare centers. They know they are doing it for their children but the guilt of not being with their children constantly eats them up. 

Sometimes, single parents manage time for themselves, which is suitable for their mental peace, but again guilt is there. This guilt of doing less for their children produces depression in single parents, and depression is a tough pill to swallow. This depression makes for them already a difficult task, single parenting more difficult. 

Fear Of Lagging Behind

Single parenting makes it difficult for single parents to find time for their growth. They can not find time to groom themselves. Also, they can not excel in their work because of their burdens. They are not accomplishing enough in their professions, lacking self-grooming, and not having time cause depression. Some of the females become single mothers at a very young age. 

Such mothers have to compromise on their emotional and hormonal needs for having time for themselves. This causes a fear of losing their youth in them. And the fear of losing their childhood. All such things collectively have a significantly negative impact on single parents and dwell them in depression.

 

Loads Of Work Suffocate Sometimes

Single parents are in a constant struggle of becoming sufficient for their children. They have to go beyond their capacities to fulfill this. Despite having a bit of help from daycare centers, they have to do a lot of work alone.

 There are no holidays for single parents. The same is the case in parenting, where both are involved, but there is no shift of duties in single parenting. Single parents have to do all the stuff all day and every day. This constant grind suffocates them often or if they have commendable stamina, sometimes. They feel choked and buried by loads of work. The choking and suffocation take single parents to depression. 

Anger Issues 

Constantly being available for their children make single parents grump. They face anger issues. This negatively impacts their professional growth and mental and emotional disability in their children. The people around such parents should show empathy towards them, but this is not the case in practical life. The boss and colleagues do not consider single parents to be doing their maximum. 

Children can not comprehend the situation their parents are going through at home. They start distancing themselves from their parents. The bond between children and single parents does not grow well. This makes single parents depressed and worried.  

Financial Burdens

Single parents have to give time to their children at home too, that's why they fall back on their incomes. As single parents are the sole earning source for their homes, they always need more money. With the money they make in the minimal time of the day, they can not run their houses, afford good food and schools for their children. Being financially unstable and seeing their children lacking in so many basic needs make single parents depressed. 

Feeling Abandoned 

Feeling alone and abandoned is the core reason for depression. Not anyone more than single parents go through this feeling of abandonment. They constantly mourn or hate their partners who died or left them, respectively. They do not have other persons to blame for their shortcomings as most of us do. This habit gives relief for the time being. But single parents have to blame them for all the deficiencies they have in their and their children's lives. The feeling of loneliness and abandonment accompany them to depression. 

Verdict:

Single parenting is the most difficult task one can have gone through in their life. Single parents went through many negative emotions such as anger, grief, loneliness, suffocation, abandonment, and guilt. All these negative energies make them depressed. That's why depression is the most common disease among single parents. We should be considerate and empathetic towards single parents and feel loved and supported. I hope this blog will encourage anyone out there in helping single parents. 

Tell me about your experience of single parenting or anyone around you going through this phase of life in the comments. I would love to read about your experiences. 

Happy Parenting,

 Cheers!