To think being single should be celebrated more than getting married?

Why? What's to be celebrated about kids having kids? Let's nots celebrate teen parenthood.

I guess not with the crashing birth rate

Lol. What rot.

I think it is. People don’t like to think being single is a desirable state as that threaten their values, norms etc. But that doesn’t really matter. It can be celebrated anyway

All options are valid because we have freedom of choice and individual tastes and personalities. There isn’t one right choice or a tier system of lifestyle choice so comparing the bravest/best/hardest is pointless.

It’s brave to rely on yourself and it’s brave to be vulnerable and rely on someone else, it’s hard graft being a single mum but it’s also hard graft being a married mum if you’ve got to care for a severely disabled child or relative.

Also the slogan of “a single parent family isn’t a broken family” doesn’t work as a strapline. There’s a lot of evidence repeating a myth/negstive association can actually further enforce it. If you want to normalise the behaviour, you’d be better off being broad and positive eg showing families of all shapes and sizes and saying “family comes in all shapes and sizes but they’re always built on love/care/etc” or something equally inane.

I'm gonna get some comments but I think that single mums should be celebrated - not pitied and looked down on but genuinely celebrated

I agree with this.

See also: young mums.

Totally agree. Celebrate what you have achieved, the fun you have had, the hard times you got through. Love it! Not sure am brave enough!

no

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-demographic-economics/article/effect-of-marital-status-on-life-expectancy-is-cohabitation-as-protective-as-marriage/5B6B9B86C737AE3F095CF3781023F458

https://academic.oup.com/ije/article-abstract/29/1/93/666813?redirectedFrom=fulltext

(although comparing absolute between-group life expectancy is a bad idea anyway since getting marriage is not exogenous, and certain factors which reduce life expectancy will also reduce the probability of getting married - disability, poverty, etc)

So celebrate it then. Throw a party. Go out for dinner with your single friends. Make yourself a singledom anniversary card. Literally nothing is stopping you. Do you think when people get married it's other people who throw the party to celebrate it? It's the couple. So throw a party to celebrate your singledom, why not?

Well, yes

Single parent families are more than twice as likely to receive universal credit compared to conventional families. They also receive more when they get it.

It also leads to an inefficient allocation of housing which is extra indirect tax payer cost (housing two adults separately puts more pressure on the housing stock compared to housing them together, and adds to the UC bill when both are separately claiming for their living costs).

The negative outcomes on children from being raised in single parent households is very well documented.

Maybe neither should be 'celebrated' as such, but we all have things that society or subgroups assign varying amounts of value to or hold in higher or lower esteem. If you're happy (at least satisfied) with your own choices, it shouldn't matter so much what the rest of the world thinks.

Single women live longer for a start.

Of course it’s always the single parents fault isn’t it 😂 only on MN

The celebration of marriage, is the wedding party couples CHOOSE to throw. If you want celebration of being single, throw yourself a party 🎉

Its not true, its an urban myth.

Women are better off out of marriage. Sorry if that’s difficult for you to hear but statistically it’s true.

Single parents cost the taxpayer a fortune, they absolutely should not be celebrated. Much of the financial/benefit crisis in the UK at the moment is caused by single parenthood and the huge amount of government subsidy it requires. Research also shows that its terrible for the kids involved too.

Celebrating damaging behaviour makes absolutely no sense from a social perspective. If anything, it should be stigmatised more. The normalisation of single parenting over the last few decades has been an unmitigaed disaster for pretty much everyone.

Yes but the question wasn’t about married mums was it?

Someone's projecting. 👀

NEWSFLASH! Married mums do this too! 😱

It's not a forgone conclusion that a married woman has made a good choice for the father of her children either, or in fact that she's made a good choice to have children herself just because she got married. Both of them have just chosen to get and stay married, and there's more to having children and parenting than a marriage certificate.
Poor choices aren't just the remit of the single parent, though I get it's nice and comfortable to think that way when you're married.

LMFAO I've heard it all now! 😂

I'm long term single and happy that way, I don't need celebrating.

Ultimately society needs healthy marriages and kids. If nobody has kids then either we die out or we just continue to import people from other cultures who do and generally the point of marriage (not always) is to have children together.

Raising the next generation to the best of their ability?

There is absolutely nothing wrong with being a single mother.

We live in a patriarchal society where marriage is designed to serve men. Lots of women are actually happier out of it and often better parents as a result.