The Quest For Single Parenting Knowledge

Like many single parents looking for advice on how to raise their kids, I started out on the net. I was in my office at work during lunch checking my seemingly endless list of e-mails and looking up the day’s news online when I decided I could do with a single parenting article. So I went onto google and typed in the phrase single parenting article. Not surprisingly, my search bore pages and pages of hits.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I definitely have not read every single parenting article ever to be written and dispersed world wide on the web. I have, however, trawled through enough to know that a quick search online ain’t enough to help me parent alone. Ask my boys and they’ll tell you. No problem.

While it is beneficial to consult a single parenting article or two, the most valuable advice is to be found elsewhere. As far as I’m concerned, the best way to quell your quest for knowledge and advice on single parenting is by consulting professionals on single parenting – in written and human form.

Talking – and Listening – to the Pros

The results of my online single parenting article search included a number of academic articles on single parenting. When I advise you talk to the pros, I am not necessarily talking about scholars.

Unless you are personally interested in scientific (and other) research on single parent families, these articles are hardly worth consulting. You may learn a lot about post-structuralist interpretations of the woman-run household but it probably won’t do your single parenting much good.

The best information I have found on single parenting has been the work of psychologists, psychiatrists and family therapists with extensive hands-on experience working with single parents. Often these professionals are single parents themselves. Although some such professionals have produced a single parenting article or two, most present their work in books, seminars and private sessions.

My two-year quest for parenting knowledge has taught me destination perfect single parent is far, far away. In the mean time, I am making the most of my journey with Dylan and Joey.