All the Single Parents

According to Dr. Wade Horn, a single-parent household is like an airplane that sometimes fails to reach its destination. A two-parent household, on the other hand, always reaches the airport. The author of the essay, Santorum, uses Dr. Horn to explain why single-parent homes are a threat to children, although single parent homes certainly aren’t the abomination Santorum makes them out to be. Single-parent households, like two-parent households, can be loving, stable environments. When Santorum points to facts that show that children in single-parent households are depressed, he fails to analyze the data, leading to the downfall of his argument. He fails to acknowledge why these kids have a single parent. Perhaps their parents have gone through a divorce, or their mother has died, or their father is fighting for a year in Afghanistan. All these circumstances can cause depression. Perhaps it’s not the single parent situation that causes the depression or bad grades or drug use; perhaps the situation that led to the single parent is the cause. Even then, single parents are often quite adept. They’ve learned to make a turkey sandwich for their kindergartner while on a business call. Or their children have quickly learned independence, and they spread mayonnaise on their own sandwich in the morning. The frazzled single mom who bails on her son’s soccer match does exist, but she’s not as prolific as Santorum seems to suggest.