QuoteProject
Labeling people single parents, for example, when they may in fact be co-parenting - either with an unmarried other parent in the home or with an ex-spouse in a joint custody situation - stigmatizes their children as the products of 'single parenthood' and makes the uncounted parent invisible to society.
Stephanie Coontz
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote highlights the importance of recognizing all forms of parenting and the impact of labeling on children.

Stephanie Coontz's quote addresses the misconception surrounding the term 'single parent,' emphasizing that such labels can diminish the importance of co-parenting arrangements. The labeling not only stigmatizes children by portraying them as products of single-parent households but also ignores the role of other parents, whether they live in the same home or share custody, thus contributing to the invisibility of their contributions to parenting and family dynamics.

Themes

Co-ParentingSingle ParenthoodStigmaFamily DynamicsVisibility

In practice

Example use cases

During a panel discussion on modern parenting, this quote can be used to highlight the importance of understanding diverse family structures.

More from Stephanie Coontz

Our goal should be to develop work-life policies that enable people to put their gender values into practice. So let's stop arguing about the hard choices women make and help more women and men avoid such hard choices.
Stephanie CoontzRead
It no longer makes sense to see singlehood and marriage as two distinct and stable social categories that should be accorded different legal rights and social esteem.
Stephanie CoontzRead
Economically as well as emotionally, modern marriage has become like an affluent gated community. It has become harder for low-income Americans to enter and sustain.
Stephanie CoontzRead
In my work as a historian and in my relationships as a friend, teacher, wife, and mother, I have come to think that the most useful way to understand the past and make it work for you is to look at the trade-offs and contradictions that, however deeply buried, can be uncovered in every memory, good or bad.
Stephanie CoontzRead
We must recognize that there are healthy as well as unhealthy ways to be single or to be divorced, just as there are healthy and unhealthy ways to be married.
Stephanie CoontzRead
As soon as love became the driving force behind marriage, people began to demand the right to remain single if they had not found love or to divorce if they fell out of love.
Stephanie CoontzRead

Similar quotes

At the core of all anger is a need that is not being fulfilled.
Marshall B. RosenbergRead
In a dog's life, some plaster would fall, some cushions would open, some rugs would shred. Like any relationship, this one had its costs. They were costs we came to accept and balance against the joy and amusement and protection and companionship he gave us.
John GroganRead
Now I'm starting to think he wasn't supposed to be my whole life, he was just this doorway to me.
Barbara KingsolverRead
Many people feel that if they're lonely, that means that they're not likable or that they're broken in some way.
Vivek MurthyRead
One must be fond of people and trust them if one is not to make a mess of life.
E. M. ForsterRead
Don't trust the person who has broken faith once.
William ShakespeareRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.