By Nohel Pineda
It’s 1:30, I’m driving home from school in this hot weather hoping to spend some time with the family before I clock in on my 3 through 8 pm shift. My mom gets off of work at 2 but is tired from work so she takes a nap before clocking in on her second job at 3 as well. On my way to work I drop my sister off to her babysitter. This is what my everyday life consists of.
My mom and dad have been separated for a few years now, and ever since I was able to get a job to help my mother and sister I did. We’ve been living in a tough situation where we barely have time to see each other. We do see my father sometimes but not too often.
Many children face and deal with the challenge of having just a single parent. According to kidshealth.org, about 20 million kids deal with the situation of living with a single parent. This matter in hand can affect the children and either cause of bad behavior, depression, troubles with school, low self-esteem, etc. It’s not just the children who get affected by this matter. Parents also get caught in with similar problem.
For instance, a mother and daughter I interviewed have lived in San Jose, California and find themselves struggling at times but make it work out. I was able to get the mother's perspective upon her situation with being a single parent has been like, she said this, “Me gustaria estar con ellos todo el tiempo pero en la situación que estamos tengo que salir adelante con ellos por medio de tener los dos trabajos ellos se ponen de acuerdo y me apoyan en ese aspecto y por eso sigo adelante.” The mother currently works two jobs as a cashier and lead at the Chavez Supermarket and makes cookies in a cookie factory. She doesn’t even have enough time to rest because of it.
Her daughter works at an IHop as a host earning about 15 dollars an hour which indeed helps out with providing food at the house. However, It isn’t too easy as she mentions, “Sometimes I even find myself struggling in my academics because of working the part-time job.” She feels as if she doesn’t have too much to spend with her mother but it just makes it 10x better for when they meet each other to hang out. Overall they find themselves happy even with all the struggling they face.
This is just one of the many families that struggle with paying rent and making a living together. However, not all single parents are mothers; studies show that one out of every six single parents is a single dad according to www.fox46charlotte.com. That being said about 76 percent of single mothers balance working a job while being a single parent. For single dads, 85 percent work jobs, too.
It’s really depressing see how hard these families work to make a living. In contrast however, it’s also good to see how hard these families work not only on their jobs but by keeping the family together and still manage to be happy amongst each other with hard work, dedication, and love.
It’s 1:30, I’m driving home from school in this hot weather hoping to spend some time with the family before I clock in on my 3 through 8 pm shift. My mom gets off of work at 2 but is tired from work so she takes a nap before clocking in on her second job at 3 as well. On my way to work I drop my sister off to her babysitter. This is what my everyday life consists of.
My mom and dad have been separated for a few years now, and ever since I was able to get a job to help my mother and sister I did. We’ve been living in a tough situation where we barely have time to see each other. We do see my father sometimes but not too often.
Many children face and deal with the challenge of having just a single parent. According to kidshealth.org, about 20 million kids deal with the situation of living with a single parent. This matter in hand can affect the children and either cause of bad behavior, depression, troubles with school, low self-esteem, etc. It’s not just the children who get affected by this matter. Parents also get caught in with similar problem.
For instance, a mother and daughter I interviewed have lived in San Jose, California and find themselves struggling at times but make it work out. I was able to get the mother's perspective upon her situation with being a single parent has been like, she said this, “Me gustaria estar con ellos todo el tiempo pero en la situación que estamos tengo que salir adelante con ellos por medio de tener los dos trabajos ellos se ponen de acuerdo y me apoyan en ese aspecto y por eso sigo adelante.” The mother currently works two jobs as a cashier and lead at the Chavez Supermarket and makes cookies in a cookie factory. She doesn’t even have enough time to rest because of it.
Her daughter works at an IHop as a host earning about 15 dollars an hour which indeed helps out with providing food at the house. However, It isn’t too easy as she mentions, “Sometimes I even find myself struggling in my academics because of working the part-time job.” She feels as if she doesn’t have too much to spend with her mother but it just makes it 10x better for when they meet each other to hang out. Overall they find themselves happy even with all the struggling they face.
This is just one of the many families that struggle with paying rent and making a living together. However, not all single parents are mothers; studies show that one out of every six single parents is a single dad according to www.fox46charlotte.com. That being said about 76 percent of single mothers balance working a job while being a single parent. For single dads, 85 percent work jobs, too.
It’s really depressing see how hard these families work to make a living. In contrast however, it’s also good to see how hard these families work not only on their jobs but by keeping the family together and still manage to be happy amongst each other with hard work, dedication, and love.