The Single-Parent Family: Still a Family

My daughter, Holly, was in third grade when she came home one day in tears. The class room mother had handed out directions to an event and said, “Take these home to your families.”

Then undoubtedly remembering that Holly’s dad had died just a few weeks earlier, she glanced at my eight-year-old daughter and said, “Oh, I’m sorry. I meant ‘take these home to your moms.’”

Now my little girl was sobbing against me. “I want to be a family.”

I hugged her. “Holly, we still are a family,” I said. “We’re just a family of three now.”

She leaned against me in relief. That was a turning point for both of us.

Even though the incident took place several years ago, I remember its lesson: Holly, her 10-year-old brother and I would have to establish a new sense of family. And it was up to me to lead the way.

Tomorrow, as a veteran parent, I’ll share the above scenario with young single mothers at a local church. I’ll encourage them not to panic. (Oh, the sad stories I can tell of those who looked for rescue from wrong sources.) But my major theme will be for them to draw on the Lord’s strength, which He readily offers as we ask, and allow themselves to discover their own strength. They can travel this road. And they can raise their children to be solid, godly citizens. After all, single-parent families still are families.