Quote:
Originally Posted by superstaff
I don't want to get too personal on here, but I'll just say that I grew up with two parents. My home environment as a child was...not great. It was dysfunctional at best, and abusive at worst, depending on circumstances. Both of my parents were...not great, I'll just say. Monetary-wise, we did okay. Not rich, but not poor. Still, I'd say my upbringing was not awesome at all. I've had people tell me I'm lucky to have grown up with both parents, and no divorce (though my parents did divorce after I turned 1  . I still don't feel very blessed. I feel like having a loving environment is more important than having two parents present, even if it means being raised by one parent or in some sort of alternative parenting situation (gay couple, adoptive couple etc). It's a very complex situation, and honestly, I think it's rare for kids to grow up in a 100% completely normal, supportive household nowadays. |
No, I get that, I had two parents until I was 14 and they both smoked crack so that wasn't very stable at all.
Obviously, there are individual outliers to any situation.
However, statistically-speaking: Two parents, both working, and optimally creating a caring and supportive environment is still the BEST objective environment in which to raise a child.
Obviously there are a lot of variables there, but when all things line up as they
should then that kid is still going to get a better head start than one raised by a single parent working two jobs, or whatever.
Obviously a kid raised by two parents in which one (or both) are complete screw-ups isn't going to have that same "head start", and in fact might fall behind a kid raised by one parent who did their best.
But I wasn't really speaking towards the variables, I was speaking to what's Optimal. "Optimal" implies all parts of the scenario functioning as intended. Which in turn implies both parents working, sober, and invested in their child's well-being.
That remains the Best Possible Scenario, even if many times people fail to uphold that ideal. It also doesn't imply that kids raised outside of "ideal" parameters still can't grow up to be well-functioning and achieve. It simply points out what works Best, with the best long-term potential for success.