Single parents remain stigmatized by society and in politics, but unmarried parents are portrayed better on TV.
How are single parents portrayed in television? In my past two posts, we’ve looked at the single stigma in society and in politics. TV’s unpartnered parents seem to fare far better.
Single Parents In Television: As Seen On TV
Single Parents
This fall season, Single Parents, debuted on ABC. The ensemble comedy follows a group of single mothers and fathers in a second grade class. These parents meet Will (Taran Killam), a dad in their children’s classroom. Will is raising his daughter on his own. The group decides to save the distraught dad from his dateless life of princesses and a living room of toys.
In the first episode, there’s a recurring joke about “it takes a village.” Although this has become a cliche, the need for a support system is true on TV and in real life.
Unmarried parents have been part of TV since the sixties. In most cases, these moms and dads have been shown in a positive, and often real, light.
Let’s take a look at common themes in popular TV portrayals of single parents.
Mother/Daughter, Confidante/Friend
TV parent/child relationships often blur the lines between parent/child and best friends. In Gilmore Girls (2000-2007), single mother Lorelei (Lauren Graham) and her daughter Rory (Alexis Bledel) have a cozy relationship punctuated by coffee and snappy repartee.
As a divorced mother of two daughters, our experience is similar to the Gilmores. I’ve witnessed similar relationships among other single parent friends.
As with all parental relationships, the success of Lorelei and Rory depends on talking and listening. Single parenting doesn’t come without risks. It’s easy to overshare or cross boundaries. But these things happen with married parents. See Emily Gilmore (Kelly Bishop).
Working Mothers
The working single mother has appeared on TV since the sixties. When her husband died in Vietnam, Julia (Diahann Carroll) balanced her job as a nurse with parenting her son. (1968-1971).
Four years later, in Norman Lear’s One Day at a Time (1975-1984), Ann Romano (Bonnie Franklin) joined the job market after divorce. She tried to make ends meet as she raised two teen-aged daughters.
Another seventies sitcom, Alice (1976-1985) featured a divorced mother (Linda Lavin) with a son. Setting aside her own dreams, she waited on tables in an Arizona diner. Her co-workers became family.
When Murphy Brown (Candice Bergen, 1988-1998) decided to have a baby, she was at the center of political debate. Vice President Dan Quayle chastised her in a 1992 speech. He pointed a finger at TV for “today’s intelligent, highly paid professional woman…bearing a child alone and calling it just another lifestyle choice.”
More recently, TV single mothers have balanced medicine (Dr. Miranda Bailey, Grey’s Anatomy, 2005-present), or law (Alicia Florrick, The Good Wife, 2009-2016) with the demands of motherhood. Florrick (Julianna Marguilies) returned to her career as a litigator when her husband was sentenced to prison).
The Village
For many single parents, a support system is key. This is true on TV, as well. Sometimes, that support comes in an individual like Reuben Kincaid (Dave Madden, The Partridge Family, 1970-1974). Typically, we see a group of friends (Sex and the City, 1998-2004), (Girlfriends Guide to Divorce, 2014-2018).
Single Dads
Single moms haven’t been the only characters featured on TV. The Andy Griffith Show (1960-1968) showed the relationship between a widowed father and his son Opie (Ron Howard), From 1968-1972, Bill Bixby also played a widower raising his son in The Courtship of Eddie’s Father.).
The eighties sitcom Full House showed yet another widowed dad. Danny Tanner (Bob Saget) raised three daughters with the help of his two buddies, Uncle Jesse (John Stamos) and Joey (Dave Coulier).
While dads were usually widowers, an eighties sitcom took a different turn. My Two Dads (1987-1990) told the story of two men (Paul Reiser, Greg Evigan) sharing custody of a daughter. They weren’t sure of her paternity.
As Seen on TV
Single parents, both mothers and fathers, have long been part of TV culture. Whether divorced, widowed, or never married, the single characters are not typically subject to the same stigmas found in society or politics, Dan Quayle’s criticisms aside.
Views expressed in this article are the author’s opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of Secure Single. It is intended for informational and educational purposes only. It is not investment or financial advice. James Bollen is the author of Thriving Solo: How to Flourish and Live Your Perfect Life (Without A Soulmate). Now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon. Subscribe to Secure Single’s Substack for free!
Today is National Single Parents Day. Single Parents households have steadily been increasing in the United States since the 1960s. Secure wants to wish a happy National Single Parents Day to the growing number of single parents in the United States, single mothers and single fathers, and may you be able to enjoy a day that recognizes and celebrates all of the hard work, difficulties, and joys of single parents. Single mothers and single fathers are a growing household in America and should be respected for their hard work for raising children.
The definition of family has become more fluid since the 1960s in America, but single parents are less likely to be thought of encompassing the definition of ‘family’ today. Both single mothers and single fathers have increased in the United States since the 1960s. Single mothers account for a quarter of all American households while single fathers account for about eight percent of American households. But the fact is that “single parents have more than tripled as a share of American households since 1960” as the traditional two-parent have steadily declined in the United States.
Since the single parent household is on the rise, society should acknowledge single mothers and single fathers. National Single Parents Day on March 21st is a reasonable first step to moving forward and helping single parents gain recognition as being considered a family. Since America has moved away from the traditional heterosexual family as being the required standard by allowing others to marry and adopt children, society continues to neglect single parents. Many good steps have been successful in the United States to bring about equality for others, but single parents remain unequal to other family arrangements.
National Single Parents Day is a great first step to build up recognition and respect for single parents in America. Since the American family has evolved and other non-traditional arrangements are now becoming more acceptable in the United States, it is time to work for equality for the growing number of single parents. Today, on National Single Parents Day, America should consider its allegiance to freedom and equality by working to give single parents the same rights that others have gained with past Supreme Court rulings on marriage yet do not have since single parents continue to go unacknowledged by society despite the rise of the single parent family.
Views expressed in this article are the author’s opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of Secure Single. It is intended for informational and educational purposes only. It is not investment or financial advice. James Bollen is the author of Thriving Solo: How to Flourish and Live Your Perfect Life (Without A Soulmate). Now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon. Subscribe to Secure Single’s Substack for free!
Single parents are a growing household in the United States, but single father households are on the rise. There are different types of single fathers according to how single fathers decide to live their lives. Society should be aware of the different types of single fathers without stereotyping and stigmatizing them.
Contrary to the stereotype of single fathers, and single parents in general, there are a range of options available to single fathers. The individual situation of a single father’s circumstances and preferences influence lifestyle choices. Some circumstances that may sway single father’s decisions are going through a separation or a divorce from one’s partner and possibly having to fight for custody or for visitation rights for any children that a father may have had with a spouse. While going through any of those experiences are difficult on a single father and all parties involved, following those experiences a single father has to make other life decisions that impact both the father and the child. Some of the lifestyle options for a single father include cohabitation or living with a non-marital partner once a single father meets a new person. Nevertheless, for single fathers, there are more options available than what the societal stereotype portrays and what popular culture believes about single fathers. The societal and popular culture view is too simplistic. For this reason, the various types of single fatherhood and each individual’s particular situation of classifying single fathers more complex than society portray single fatherhood.
Similar to a project that Secure Single is currently working on of creating a spectrum of the range of singlehood to singleness, there seems to be a range for single fathers and for single parents (whether single fathers or single mothers). This continuum would generally apply to single parents, both single fathers and single mothers. Society should change its depiction of single parents and of since single fathers particularly because single father households currently outnumber those of single mothers. Ultimately though, the social stigma and stereotypes of single fathers and single mothers must change.
Society depicts fathers as being incompetent of being able to raise and to care for children. This is a problem since both two-married-parent households and single-parent households both face this problem, but it is especially a problem for single fathers since they face a society and popular culture that sends a negative messages and stereotypes about single fathers. Stereotypes are simple and easy. Single fatherhood is complex and difficult, despite what society may believe about any single fathers today as being unable to successfully raise a child without a mother.