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A Kid Talks About Single Motherhood

If you read nothing else today, look at Michael Brendan Dougherty’s essay reflecting on what it was like for him to grow up as the child of a single mother. Excerpt: I don’t think my behavior that one night was the sole cause, but some time after that my mother really stopped having a life […]

If you read nothing else today, look at Michael Brendan Dougherty’s essay reflecting on what it was like for him to grow up as the child of a single mother. Excerpt:

I don’t think my behavior that one night was the sole cause, but some time after that my mother really stopped having a life outside the home. She stayed in and conducted no romances of significance. Judging from her diaries and letters, the few men she engaged in even a passing interest were not all that good to her. As a single mother, helping to take care of her parents and her son, she wasn’t in a position to make men be courtly with her. So she stopped trying. That was the sexual revolution for her. Men willing to sleep with her, but not willing to build a family.

MBD goes on to talk about how the effects of single motherhood played out across his life, and his mother’s. You really, really need to read this. It took courage to write something so honest and raw. I would like to hear from readers of this blog about your own experiences growing up as the child of a single parent. But first, read MBD’s essay. 

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