I think life in a single parent family offers us many advantages and opportunities for some important lessons. One of those lessons that may very well be present in all families but I would argue is more intense in single parent families, is cooperation. Whether we are co-parenting with another person, or just trying to keep all the balls in the air within our own household, it seems we are constantly working to cooperate and collaborate for the betterment of our families.
If you do co-parent or share custody with your child’s other parent, you know how challenging those lessons in cooperation can be! We coordinate schedules and responsibilities and work to cooperate in ways that will benefit our child and keep us from losing our minds. Many of us find ourselves having to cooperate and coordinate with step parents, extended family and ex in-laws as well.
Our children are also offered many opportunities for lessons in cooperation. I do not know how your family is, but since it has been my three children and myself for such a long time, we have had to come together and cooperate on everything from scheduling to grocery shopping to taking care of the pets. There is absolutely no way that I can do everything and I learned years ago that I needed my kids to help out some and be part of the solution. So, we had to learn to collaborate and cooperate in ways that they might not have had to had there been two adults in the house.
All of these lessons in cooperation can really be a good thing. By learning to work together with other people (especially those we might not get along with or agree with) and to cope with working things out in an emotionally charged situation (and a family is definitely “emotionally charged”) we are all gaining important life skills and learning some of the hardest of life’s valuable lessons.