VII. Summarize the text, using phrases and word combinations from Ex II and Ex VI.

VII. Perfect parents – who are they? Is it possible to become a perfect parent? How he/she should look like? How would he/she treat the child? Would a perfect parent be strict…or.? Write a composition (10-15 sent) describing a perfect parent/parents.

VIII. Compare extended family and a nuclear one (15-20 sent)

Unit 4. A Single-parent family. Common problems. Parental concerns

Read the text. Translate it into Ukrainian.

I.Find answers for the following questions:

1) What is a “Single parent family”?

Single parenthood may occur for a variety of reasons. What are they?

What is “unforeseeable occurrence”? How does it influence one’s family life?

What are the challenges single parent families face? Comment on each of them.

Can a single-parent cope with all the problems and create a good relationship with his/her child?

6) How can a single-parent create positive experiences for his/her child?

7) What is “antisocial behaviour”?

Definition

Single-parent families are families with children under age 18 headed by a parent who is widowed or divorced and not remarried, or by a parent who has never married.

A single parent family

A single parent (also lone parent and sole parent) is a parent who cares for one or more children without the assistance of another parent in the home. The legal definition of "single parenthood" may vary according to the local laws of different nations or regions.

Single parenthood may occur for a variety of reasons. It could be opted for by the parent (as in divorce, adoption, artificial insemination, surrogate motherhood, or extramarital pregnancy), or be the result of an unforeseeable occurrence (such as death or abandonment by one parent). Still other families are counted as single-parent families if the parents are married, but one is away for an extended period, for example, on military deployment.

The living and parenting arrangements of single parents are diverse. A number live in households with family or other adults. When parents separate, one party usually parents for the majority of the time but most continue to share parenting to some extent with the other parent.

Since 1950, the number of one-parent families has increased substantially. In 1970, about 11 percent of children lived in single-parent families. During the 1970s, divorce became much more common, and the number of families headed by one parent increased rapidly. The number peaked in the 1980s and then declined slightly in the 1990s. By 1996, 31 percent of children lived in single-parent families. In 2002, the number was 28 percent. Many other children have lived in single-parent families for a time before their biological parent remarried, when they moved into a two-parent family with one biological parent and one step parent.

Common Problems

Single-parent families face special challenges. One of these is economic. Children living with single fathers were the least likely of all children to have health insurance coverage.

Social scientists have found that children growing up in single-parent families are disadvantaged in other ways when compared to a two-biological-parent families. Many of these problems are directly related to the poor economic condition of single-parent families, not just to parenting style. These children are at risk for the following:

- lower levels of educational achievement

- twice as likely to drop out of school

- more likely to become teen parents

- more conflict with their parent(s)

- less supervised by adults

- more likely to become truants

- more frequently abuse drugs and alcohol

- more high-risk sexual behavior

- more likely to join a gang

- twice as likely to go to jail

- four times as likely to need help for emotional and behavioral problems

- more likely to participate in violent crime

- more likely to commit suicide

- twice as likely to get divorced in adulthood

Studies have also found that children who live in a two-parent family where one parent is abusive or has a high level of antisocial behaviour do not do as well as children whose parents divorce if the child then lives in a single-parent family with the nonabusive parent.

It is important to remember that every single-parent family is different. Children who are living with a widowed mother will have a home life that is different from children with divorced parents or those whose parents were never married. Children of divorced parents will have a wide range of relationships with their parents and parents' partners depending on custody arrangements and the commitment of the non-custodial parent to maintaining a relationship with the child. Despite the fact that children from single-parent families often face a tougher time economically and emotionally than children from two-biological-parent families, children from single-parent families can grow up doing well in school and maintaining healthy behaviours and relationships.

Parental Concerns

Being a single parent can be hard and lonely. There is often no other adult with whom to share decision-making, discipline, and financial responsibilities. The full burden of finding responsible childcare, earning a living, and parenting falls on one individual. However, the lack of a second parent often has a less negative impact on children than family instability, lack of structure, and inconsistent enforcement of parental standards. Single parents may want to follow these steps in order to create positive experiences for their children:

- Find stable, safe child care.

- Establish a home routine and stick to it.

- Apply rules and discipline clearly and consistently.

- Allow the child to be a child and not ask him or her to solve adult problems.

- Get to know the important people (teachers, coaches, friends) in the child's life.

- Answer questions about the other parent calmly and honestly.

- Avoid behaviour that causes the child to feel pressed to choose between divorced parents.

- Explain financial limitations honestly.

III. Define the words:to avoid, limitation, routine, inconsistent, enforcement, burden, commitment, custody, to abuse, violent, to supervise, challenge, diverse, substantially, sole, unforeseeable, abandonment, occurrence.

IV. Translate into Ukrainian:

1)tovary according to the local laws;

2)tooccur for a variety of reasons;

3)tobe opted for by smb;

4)tobe the result of an unforeseeable occurrence;

5)parenting arrangements;

6)to share parenting to some extent with the other parent;

7)toincrease substantially;

8)toface special challenges;

9)to have health insurance coverage;

10)to be directly related to the poor economic condition;

11)to be at risk for;

12)to drop out of school;

13)to beless supervised by adults;

14)custody arrangements;

15)to share decision-making and financial responsibilities;

16)to maintain healthy behaviours and relationships;

17)full burden of parenting falls on one individual;

18)inconsistent enforcement of parental standards;

19)to establish a home routine and stick to it;

20)to explain financial limitations honestly

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