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

Not a great former journalist then 🙄

Connects with their prejudiced, primitive-minded readers. Got you.

Has it it occurred to you that he himself described himself as coming from a broken home during the interview

He had a poor relationship with is father who was not in his life for years. I think BW is the best placed person to decide what words are correct for his own experience.

You're being way too sensitive.
It's just a technical term that has a generalised meaning so people will get the gist in fewer words than "His homelife was with a single mother and a father not in the picture".

A technical term 😅

God yes, I didn't notice that at first. No studies much less than 20 years old, some over 30. Yet TheHerboriste says she's been looking at recent studies....🤔

Whilst Chapple (2013) found that in non US countries, the size of causal effect on a child’s well-being of being brought up in a single parent family is ‘small’.
This also contrasts to other studies as they actually speak to the children about their views on their family set up, not just the adults.

I’m a child of divorce and think the phrase is inaccurate. My parents separation is one of my happiest childhood memories.

But the way it’s used in this article specifically it’s used as inherently negatively.

It’s a way of trying to shame women into remaining in mediocre marriages.

”Think of the children” is always aimed at the person leaving….never aimed at the behaviour causing them to leave.

Odd that.

Tbh by asking how many are single you are doing the same thing you accuse them of.

I am single but can also clearly see that “broken home” is awful language and part of broader societal attitudes that seeks to pressure people to remain in miserable partnerships.

The recent studies still cite the earlier ones.
Did you even read the BBC and NPR articles?

Meant to type single Parent not single. Apologies for the misunderstanding

Men often leave marriages too. Nobody should be shamed into staying in a marriage where they're unhappy.

A lot of terms used van be considered outdated, but it is what it is. Taking offence over this particular article, is more a personal trigger.

Separation of the family unit, is essentially a breakdown...hence the use of the word broken. That doesn't mean for one minute, that the parents splitting up is a bad thing.

In many cases, it's necessary for the safety of the kids and/or the parent.
We do need to recognise, that 2 things can be true.

Someone can come from a broken home AND the separation of the parents was the RIGHT THING to happen.

They are not mutually exclusive.

Some kids benefit from their parents being separated or divorced.

Some kids have negative outcomes as a result of the split.

It doesn't mean that kids with parents that stay together do not also have negative outcomes...many do, for different reasons.

Separation and breakdown are completely different.

Breakdown is inherently negative as a description. To separate is not. My parents separated when I was young but my broken home was the years they were together. Not when they parted.

I did not suggest men don’t leave but it is far more frequently women who make that decision and far more frequently women who are shamed for doing so (“single mother” and “single father” are both viewed differently.)

I do agree OP should try to reframe how she sees this. That society views separating parents negatively is a societal problem. OP should not make it hers. Whenever people suggest I am from a broken home I respond “yes I was. Then luckily my parents separated and it was fixed again.”

Absolutely, but language is powerful and important. We can agree with the above but use a neutral term instead of described a home or family as "broken".

Would you be happy for your home or family to be described as such?

Offense is personal and it's not a bad thing.

It's about the family unit no longer being together though. The parents separated, leading to a breakdown in their relationship, creating a broken family unit.

Anything else is just creating fog.

My brother is divorced, so his kids (now adults) are from a broken home. That's a fact. They have always had both parents in their lives. They weren't abandoned.

He has a good relationship with all of them, but they've shared some challenges with my kids, which are as a direct result of the divorce and breakdown.

The original family unit is no longer together..it's broken down.

Life happens. People split up. It has some pros and cons and we just need to accept that is the case.

Women often stay for financial reasons, as well as not wanting to share custody of the kids.

Society are not making women stay. It may be the people close to the woman, who she listens to.. but society at large will not make a woman stay, if she's has the support of family and others who care about her.

When I was growing up single mums often had very little contact/support or none from their children’s fathers. I’m guessing that was a broken home. Now it seems that many parents separate and successfully coparent. Often meaning a better calmer lifestyle for those involved. As long as separated parents try to navigate changes it can work. A few people I know are happily married a few unhappily I know which step I would choose if unhappy.

Normalizing and sanitizing undesirable and antisocial situations with “neutral” language isn’t productive.

Exactly!

Really? Language and societal attitudes change over time though. Why should we keep up?

Is a single parent family antisocial and undesirable? I'm not sure I understand what you mean?

There are far more broken families where they’re all still together yet abusive & violent! Like the home I was raised in. Both my parents remained married (47 years when my DF died) but my DF was a violent functioning alcoholic. That was a broken home. No divorce in sight

Full agreement

I think that's a bit simplistic - it's not necessarily the term itself or even the stigma that people are worried about in those threads so much as the reality: that their kids will spend most of their time without one or other parent, that their lives will be turned upside down, that either parent might meet someone else that their children might not like, and all the myriad things that will be more difficult for their children if their parents split.

In many ways I think the external stigma is overstated - not many people really give a shit what other people are doing with their families, but anyone considering leaving a marriage should seriously consider the fact that choosing to end a relationship will almost certainly have some detrimental effects on their children which (depending on the circumstances) may or may not turn out to outweigh the benefits.