BBC news using the phrase "broken home"

[IsitaHatOrACat]

Really? Really? Whilst I'm not overly interested to know about this man's drug fuelled years, the description of him coming from a "broken home" has infuriated me.
As a single parent to a 15 year old, I can confirm that there us nothing whatsoever "broken" about our home or small family.
I really thought we had moved on from this type of shaming of single parent families
Seriously BBC, do better.

BBC News - Heavy hangs the crown - sadness at Wiggins' troubles
www.bbc.com/sport/cycling/articles/c23mv42m2lmo

YANBU

I’m divorced, no way would I allow anyone to describe my children as being from a “broken home”. Someone said to me recently that they “feel so sorry for my children”. No way. I do not want my children growing up feeling sorry for themselves because their dad doesn’t live with us. Children internalise labels like “broken home” and I don’t want them to think there is something wrong with them or their lives. The term “broken” implies that my family is deficient.

Literally not what I said.

That’s a very common phrase.

It’s a stupid phrase for the reasons you stated but I have accepted it’s quite common. I am from a broken home but that was only when my parents were together. It was fixed once they separated.

There is a desire to shame women into staying in awful relationships (I say women as it tends to be them that file for divorce more frequently and absent fathers are more common than absent mothers).

But don’t let anybody ever shame you for a relationship ending. There is no shame in that.

Literally exactly what you said.

I can categorically state that every single time, it was the husband at fault.

Broken home means parents are not on a relationship. Nothing more, nothing less

Also the issue with the way they have used the term here is they assume having separated parents is inherently negative.

It’s not.

But calling it “broken” is inherently stigmatising.

To be fair, a father leaving and having no other contact leaves its mark - particularly if the replacement father figure also leaves eventually. Dh's dad left when he was young, no contact at all. He ended up with a perfectly good man as a step father, but the feeling of abandonment never really left him. And his new blended family was hard for him, too. His mum suffered with anxiety, and he left school with no qualifications. He'd describe himself as the product of a broken home I think. That doesn't mean that all single parent households are like this of course.

I'm sorry for Bradley Wiggins. I always really liked him, and hadn't realised this had happened post-cycling career. He always spoke really warmly of his now ex wife, Cath.

There are a lot of children of divorce in this thread saying they agree the phrase is accurate and fine to use, and a lot of adults who got divorced saying it's not because it's offensive to them.

I think it's up to the children to decide how to describe their families, not the adults.

Get a divorce if you want, but you should do it with your eyes open that it normally has massive negative impacts on your children, throughout their whole lives, even impacting their children's lives.

There are hundreds of academic papers and studies about the poorer outcomes of children from single parent homes; it’s not difficult to google them.

https://www.bbc.com/news/education-47057787.amp

Growing up without both parents is associated with a host of poor child outcomes. Children from single-parent and stepparent families have higher poverty rates and lower levels of educational and occupational attainment than children who grow up with both their biological or adoptive parents (Astone & McLanahan, 1991; Biblarz & Raftery, 1993, 1999; DeLeire & Kalil, 2002; Kiernan, 1992; McLanahan & Sandefur, 1994; Wojtkiewicz, 1993). They report greater substance use and risk-taking behavior, such as smoking, drinking, and drug use (Carlson, 2006; DeLeire & Kalil, 2002; Hoffmann & Johnson, 1998). Further, these children are more likely to have sex at an early age (Davis & Friel, 2001; Thornton & Camburn, 1989), to be young and unmarried when they form their families (Cherlin, Kiernan, & Chase-Lansdale, 1995; Kiernan 1992; Kiernan & Hobcraft, 1997; McLanahan & Sandefur, 1994; Thornton 1991; Wu 1996), and to experience the dissolution of their own romantic unions (Amato & DeBoer, 2001; Kiernan & Cherlin, 1999; McLanahan & Bumpass, 1988; Wolfinger 1999).

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7880085/

https://www.npr.org/2023/10/22/1207322878/single-parent-married-good-for-children-inequality#:~:text=In%20the%20book%2C%20released%20last%20month%2C%20Kearney,of%20success%20than%20those%20raised%20by%20one.&text=Kearney%20notes%20that%20families%20headed%20by%20a,than%20families%20headed%20by%20a%20married%20couple.

Oh, I don't know... perhaps during this difficult and traumatic period for the children (which she and her husband created by getting divorced) she could prioritise their welfare rather than palming them off on babysitters every evening? She could still do her hobbies every other week, when the father has them.

Why should her social life continue exactly as before, when she's bears responsibility for their trauma?

It seems very selfish to me and I'd certainly not behave in this manner if I got divorced.

It's amazing how low people place children's welfare compared to their own desires.

It’s a very old fashioned term and belongs in the 1970s. I’m a single mother and if anyone called the home I brought my children up in as broken they’d be getting a mouthful from me. If they need to describe an individual's abusive family dynamic then use the word dysfunctional, otherwise just say single parent or divorced parents, if you have to say anything at all.

They both remarried,to horrendous partners, and life got worse for me ,shunted between their homes ,I had to move homes move schools to be with a step dad she moved us in with ,then moved homes and schools to live with my dad and his new wife ,then homes and school changed and moved back to my mum .
Without a shadow of doubt life was much worse after their divorce.
what they should of done was put their child first and controlled themselves.
Despite seeing what I saw as child ,it was still better than having abusive step parents in my life ,which was what I ended up with.
Thankfully my life was not the norm for most children

@TheHerboristethese are very outdated, look at the dates. In my field we don’t look at anything older than five years as being accurate.

@Snowdrop4in terms of remarrying I am absolutely with you; the statistics relating to step parents is not great. I would argue one happy parent on their own is worth more than two unhappy parents together though.

Your choosing to interpret the term 'broken home' as single parental households. I don't think anyone uses the phrase with that definition anymore. A broken home to me is a home with dysfunctional conditions such as abuse/violence/neglect

I didn't read it that way. Plenty of couples divorce, it's amicable, and the children see both parents regularly and end up becoming well adjusted adults. The problems are invariably when kids are totally abandoned by one of their birth parents, or there is continued hostility between the parents that the children are party to. In BW's case, his father left and he never saw or heard from him again until he was an adult (and it wasn't a happy reunion). His stepfather also left. Feelings of abandonment like that have a life long impact.

Yes
Absolutely
I would of been 100% happier had I lived with either of them ,and they were a single parent.

The vast, vast, vast majority of break-ups are not about people fleeing violent thugs.

No, it doesn't; a factual application of the expression would mean a home that was physically broken. You are just blinded to the judgmental aspect.

Yours is an idiosyncratic interpretation; look up the definition/usage of broken home.

There are a lot of children of divorce in this thread saying they agree the phrase is accurate and fine to use, and a lot of adults who got divorced saying it's not because it's offensive to them.

Yup, I noticed that...

Children with divorced parents are 100% entitled to use the expression to describe THEIR OWN EXPERIENCE. Journalists should use neutral, non-judgmental language. HTH.

I’m a former journalist and this is just nonsense.

Unfortunately for you, journalists want to write snappy engaging copy that connects with their readers. HTH.