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EDITORIAL |
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| Year : 2005 | Volume
: 23
| Issue : 2 | Page : 62 |
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Unfortunate children of single parents
SG Damle
Journal of Indian Society of Pedodontics and Preventive Dentistry, Dr. A. L. Nair Road, Mumbai Central, Mumbai - 400 008, India
Correspondence Address:
S G Damle
Journal of Indian Society of Pedodontics and Preventive Dentistry, Dr. A. L. Nair Road, Mumbai Central, Mumbai - 400 008
India
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
DOI: 10.4103/0970-4388.16442
How to cite this article:
Damle S G. Unfortunate children of single parents. J Indian Soc Pedod Prev Dent 2005;23:62 |
Parenting is a shared responsibility. It provides the child the gentle warmth of a mother's embrace and the protection of a Fathers arm. Yet, what happens when this cocoon is shattered or broken by separation, divorce or death.
The single parent, apart from having to handle his/her own emotions of pain, loneliness and rejection, is forced to forefront an entirely new social milieu and adopt the role of both the Father and Mother henceforth in the child's life.
This is always a big, big challenge for a single man or a single woman. Unfortunately society has a different set of rules for single mothers thereby making it all the more difficult for them. This bias has its repercussions on her children too, for example, a widowed mother is not welcome at weddings, thereby child is often deprived of attending a family celebration. Also, problems related to commuting and safety often force children of single mothers to lead a more secluded life as compared to other children.
Most children have lived with both parents before the split, in most cases; they live with feelings of guilt that they were responsible for the break up.
Also the young children of single parent perform poor in academic achievement, exhibit more behavioral problems, poorer psychological adjustments, more negative self concepts and greater social difficulties. As single parents deal with wide range of pressures they often fail to give quality time to their children. This could be one of the reasons for these children being prone to child abuse.
Children of single parent families often visit dental practitioners. They exhibit numerous psychological problems and portray a varied array of emotions like depression, anxiety, aggression. Management of such children possess a challenge as it becomes mandatory to make dental experience comfortable and acceptable to them.
A continuous balance of technical abilities and effective communication skills are essential to provide these children with quality care. Besides clinical, psychological management plays a crucial role to make dental treatment acceptable to such children. If the Oral Health Professionals considers all these aspects, it will be easier to give a healing touch to these unfortunate children!
Prof. S. G. Damle [Figure - 1]
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