Life as a single mother can be very challenging. We all know that when there is a separation or divorce between spouses, mothers are often saddled with the responsibility of taking care of the children.

Single mothers are ladies who find themselves responsible for running the day to day activities of a child without any financial or emotional support from a male partner or husband. They may have separated from a physically abusive spouse while others may have been in a relationship with a guy who promised to get married to them only to be jilted after getting pregnant for selfish reasons.

Life could be extremely challenging for single mothers especially when they have no job or they have a job that is barely enough to meet their personal needs. Let us attempt to examine the challenges of single mothers in this category.

Loneliness

Life could be miserable for a single mother especially if she lives alone with her kids. She absorbs all the pressures of life and does not have any adult at home to relate with. Most single mothers always have to look for a member of her family to live with her and take care of the children. For those who have people living with them, they are still traumatized by the experiences they had with their spouse or partner. They feel rejected and abandoned and try as much as possible to get it off their mind. Some go to the extent of consciously taking life threatening drugs.

Raising Children

Most single moms in this category have to device all means to play the role of a father to their children as well. They nurse their children during infancy, see the child crawl, walk, run and talk. They enrol their children in school and do daily school runs. They organise birthday parties for their children without their spouses or partner supporting or attending.

Pay the bills

Single mothers who have no meaningful source of income often think of abandoning their children. They always consider getting foster homes where their kids could be raised while they complete their education or look for jobs to take care of themselves.

Rejection by the family

In most African communities, single mothers are faced with the rejection and isolation from their family. Ladies who get pregnant while they are still living with their parents often deal with all sorts of provocation and insult from parents and other family members. Mothers who were abandoned by their spouses are seen as women who were not submissive to their husbands without making inquiries about the circumstances these women have had to deal with.

Nursing a sick child can be quite tormenting for a single mother. She needs to consistently wake up at night to check her child and administer drugs. In extreme cases where a child is admitted in a hospital, they need to take permission from work to nurse the child until he/she recovers.

The society needs to appreciate single mothers more because of the challenges they have faced . They should be encouraged and supported in our neighbourhoods, at work and in social circles. They must not be seen as objects of ridicule or gossip. This will help them to be emotionally stable, live normal lives and take care of their children.

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I dedicate this FTC to all single mothers, may God bless ya hustle

Single ladies should read and beware that it is not all fun

Some widows also fall into this category.

They made that choice, so I wonder the pity party here

80% made he choice. we still need to respect them though

Surprisingly single mothers raise their children very well and are quite understanding. Shout out to those single mothers and fathers out there who make an effort to raise their children to be great while still moving forward in life.