BBC news using the phrase "broken home"

Bradley Wiggins father was an alcoholic who would drink himself into a stupor.

He was absent for most of his son's upbringing throughout childhood and teenage years.

So yes, it was a broken home. It’s nothing to do with Bradley’s mum being a single mum.

Stop looking for offence where none is intended.

I agree OP, it's old fashioned and lazy journalism.

I would the term means kids are unruly and are in control not their parent/s, known the police, don't turn up to school, are allowed to be out at 3am type set up no matter how you want to word it, if people want to have chips on their shoulders that is up to them

But parents need to parent

It’s outdated language that perpetuates stigma.

I don't think single parents have been automatically getting a free home for a very long time
Maybe once upon a time ,30 years ago a single parent got a nice home ,but the housing crisis put a stop to that years ago
I don't think anyone in their right mind thinks women get pregnant to get a house ... simply because we all know there aren't any .
There are children growing up in bed and breakfasts, temporary accommodation.
No one believes women /single parents are choosing that ..that is their situation because society has let them down

I agree op. I think dysfunctional upbringing might be a better description because many families manage break ups very well.

You're right that single mothers (and also fathers in a lot of cases) are the ones that are there for their kids, but there is still a stigma which is predominantly solely attached to single mothers only.
Many people view single mothers as women who've probably 'only had kids so they don't have to work and to get a place to live', 'that their kids probably have different fathers', 'that single mothers drag their kids up without bothering to raise them with respect and manners', 'that people who cause trouble or take drugs probably come from a home where only a mum has bought them up'. I could go on.

On the other hand, single fathers are applauded when they raise children alone.

In any case Wiggins blaming a ‘broken home’ for his poor behaviour is the issue here, I appreciate drugs and alcohol are coping strategies, and maybe he has unresolved trauma, but the onus is on him to deal with it now as an adult.

There is a lack of maturity about his response and calling his mother a massive bitch so publicly doesn’t endear me to him at all, it’s an abusive term and completely unacceptable. If he is using terms like broken home as well and it’s accurate reporting, then we are seeing a man lash out publicly seemingly to discredit and hurt his mother especially. He is weaponising news outlet to create shame and embarrassment.

Or he is reporting how it felt, and his struggles to cope since. The name calling leads me to think it’s most likely to be the former scenario and I hope his mother is okay. It sounds like she is being blamed to me.

My parents divorced in the seventies when I was six and yes, it did and still does feel like a broken home.
I am now a single mum myself and I am sure, despite my loving them unconditionally, that my own children feel their home/family unit is broken.
You cannot disregard the phrase when it is the lived experience of many.

But plenty of people do blame single parents and, as has been said, some homes are essentially 'broken' with the parents still together. These useless men who bugger off without a backward glance/to become Disney dads or whatever - some might be devoted dads before this happens, but many will be the twats we read about on here who don't pull their weight in the marriage and don't contribute to family life in any meaningful way. I'm very sceptical about all this 'research' that states their presence in the child's home is essential for good outcomes for the child,

I went to a very strange evening last year to watch Bradley Wiggins being interviewed. He was drinking on stage, clearly pissed and started the whole thing by saying, unprompted, that his mum was a "massive bitch". So he might agree with the sentiment.

I suppose Prince William comes from a broken home. Can’t get excited about it. Yes it’s pejorative but I don’t think people will leap to blaming the parents who stay when things get broken.

I agree op. It’s a very old fashioned term that I haven’t heard in years due to it being offensive.

A broken home in reality is any home that is unhealthy, abusive and or toxic. In the old days it felt like it eas used to force women to stay in abusive marriages, or they were consigned to life in a broken home.

In reality single parent homes in my view can be the healthiest and safest for dc, living with any abuse physical or emotional is much more damaging.

In this case maybe Wiggins used that term himself, maybe he feels that was his experience. It certainly doesn’t apply to every child growing up with one parent.

I would have loved to have grown up in a SP household rather than in my dangerous volatile home, and would never have described it as ‘broken’ but a dream come true!

This is all relative, the term reflected only this particular experience and not all SP homes.

Absolutely
But they are journalists
They want the clicks
They want their story talked about ,they don't care what phrases upset people.

So maybe they shouldn't use stigmatising language like 'broken home'
I raised my DS by myself and I worked very hard to give him an amazing home/life. Nothing about it was broken. Calling my son's childhood 'broken' because his father is a twat is so offensive.

I wonder if it is actually a direct quote of something Wiggins said himself?

No one is blaming single parents,they are the ones showing up for that child each day .
The blame lies at the feet of the fathers who walk away or are useless or don't step up .

I don't understand your point. Your family might have been described as a broken home but that's not because it was abusive, it's because your parents split up. Which was probably for the best, and the opposite of 'breaking' your home.

@Neurodiversitydoctor But statistically being brought up in a,single parent house hold is a huge risk factor for all sorts of things. The evidence is in to try to argue otherwise is disingenuous.

That's not quite right though. Poverty is at the root of pretty much all of the 'sorts of things,' that being from a single parent household puts you at risk of. Poverty is often a factor in the relationships ending as well. But it's much easier to blame single parents that trying to tackle the inequality and poverty that is really causing the harm.

'Broken home,' is a lazy, inaccurate all-round shitty phrase and, yes, the BBC should do better.

Statistically being brought up in a domestically abusive home is also a huge risk for all sorts of things. The risks associated with single parents are also complex and cannot be attributed just to the fact of having one parent - that's as overly simplistic as saying 'growing up in care leads to poorer outcomes' without taking into consideration the reasons that children grow up in care in the first place. What happens BEFORE the separation is more impactful than what happens afterwards. Stigmatising single parent homes by calling them broken actively discourages parents to leave relationships that are actually harming children.

People are not striving to be single parents
Surely everyone wants what is best for their child,which is two parents who love them .
If that is not possible,and children are growing up in single parent households ,that's not seen as the best for a child ..lots of researching has been done on the negative outcomes of no father involved families.
So that's probably why the term broken home is used ,stems from two loving parents being what a child needs to thrive .
It's certainly what I needed to thrive and didn't receive

Do you think it's an ok expression to use? Do you think divorce automatically means a family is broken? Are you projecting because your childhood was difficult?

So it doesn't specifically say anything either way yet you have deliberately interpreted in a way to get upset about so maybe you have more issues with your own situation?

Growing up ,that's how my family was described as a broken home .