Single Parenting
Becoming a young single parent has been my motivation thus far. Being a parent means taking care of your child everyday, knowing everyday occurrences, and learning about them from their expressions and behavior. Raising a healthy, well rounded, respectful, and intelligent child is every mother’s goal. There is so much personal reward in learning about your child and growing with them. It makes you that much stronger, when mothers do it alone. There are countless times that I would like to give up on everything. Then I think about my daughters’ future and realize I want so much more for her. I have always wanted more for my daughter than I was ever offered. Being a single mother isn’t easy by far. It’s all a learning process because just as much as I’m teaching my daughter she is teaching me also. Becoming a mother at such a young age has helped me mature into the young lady that I ‘am today.
I didn’t know how hard it would be being a single mother. It has been a struggle since day one with her father being in Japan since she was born and barely providing little to none for her. I tried to work and provide for my daughter but it was hard getting babysitters every day when I worked different shifts every day. didn’t attend daycare because I couldn’t afford it and the Department of Social Services placed her on a waiting list. After seeing all these daily struggles, one after another, I realized I needed school and a steady support system.
My ideas of success means obtaining an education, working in a job that I love, one day having a home and auto of my own, and being able to provide beyond just the basics for my daughter. My travel outside of Virginia has been limited to visits to D.C. and a short trip to Tennessee. This has been a self-imposed limitation because I have not really had the desire to really leave home and explore the outside world. However, I recognize that may want to explore other cultures and meet other people in faraway places and in order to be in a position to provide her such an opportunity; I know that I what to reach a certain financial level. Therefore, achieving an education that will hopefully lead to a job with not only economic stability but also economic growth is the best way to ensure that I will be able to make this goal, as well as all of the others, a reality.
It has always been my desire to become an elementary school teacher. I love kids and interacting with them; however, after having my daughter I was forced to drop out of college my first year. I refused to be another statistic and be a single mother living off welfare. Everyday I was looking for a way out for my daughter and me. That’s when I found the Single