Myth of Doomed Children

Malissa Lisojo
Summary & Response
September 30, 2009
Myth of Doomed Kids
The first paragraph is about how children who live with a single parent are expected to fail and be a delinquent. Second paragraph states that the author took a survey of children with single parent homes and drug abuse and talks how children with single parent homes are the most at risk. Third paragraph the author talks about the fear of children of single parents home being addicted to the substance and not that the children will try it. She talks about the side effects and how it can affect those children’s lives. Fourth paragraph talks about the survey itself. The survey she took a survey was not only of the single family home but also, the mother and father, the mother alone, the father alone, the mother and stepfather, and father and stepmother homes. She shows the percentages of substances abuse of children in each family. Fifth paragraph she talks about how in each family most of the children do not have a substance abuse. Also, even with this being true, children with mother and father homes do better than others. Next she talks about how even though culture has said that children with single family homes do a lot worse with substance abuse she says that it’s not much of a difference. For the rest of the excerpt she basically talks about that even though single parent homes do worst then the homes of both mother and father she believes that it doesn’t mean those kids have no one to care, love, and spend time with them. She says that people believe the kids with single parent homes are neglected and abused and that’s why they have substance abuse but she believes they do have other people who care for them. Though it’s not mommy or daddy they all have a least one other relative or person who cares for them. She says that just because children have a home of a mother and father doesn’t mean they aren’t neglected. That doesn’t mean both mom and dad always have time for them and that explains why the percentage of children between the two homes who have a substance abuse problem is not much less than the percentage of children with a single family home. Basically this author is trying to prove that kids with single parent homes aren’t always doomed. They are to an extent but it isn’t to the extreme.
My Response
I agree with this author. She believes that kids from single parent homes aren’t always doomed for failure regardless of what society may believe. Yes, they do cause some type of problem but, they aren’t as different as kids that come from homes with a mother and father. I believe the same thing because I myself come from a single mother home. I do have a stepfather but he is not someone who has any authority over me. All my life it has always been me and my mother. When I turned 10 my mom got pregnant with my little sister and a few years later, her father disappeared too. My dad left because my mom had an affair, that affair ended with my little sister. Anyways when my sister came along my responsibilities, my life, changed. Even before my sister, when it was just me and my mom I never acted out. I was never a problem because my mom knew what she was doing. After my sister came I took over, and even though my mom wasn’t around much after giving birth because she was working two jobs, my sister was hardly a problem either. We both turned out alright, something statistics say shouldn’t happened. My mother was never on welfare, always took care of us by herself.
The author also states that even children with mother and father homes do badly too. Though not as bad she says being a single parent isn’t the reason why children act up. The author states that “4.5% of them have substance abuse problem, compared with the 5.7% if the adolescences living with only their mom. It’s a difference, but not much of one.” What she means by this is that the percentage of kids with substance abuse of single parent homes isn’t too much more than the percentage of kids with substances abuse of a home of both mother and father. She’s basically saying that it doesn’t matter that much if your from a single family or a family with both your mom and dad it’s still a chance your end up with a substance abuse problem. I agree with this too. It doesn’t matter if you have either your parents or just one parents, you’re going to have a substance problem regardless. If you choose to be a problem your going to be a problem rather you have one parent or both. Though some children actually do have a problem they do it on purpose just for attention. Most children let that go, now the difference between the two isn't that high.