Paternity is the state of being someone’s legal father, with or without marriage. When a baby is born to an unmarried mother, it has no legal father. To establish paternity, the biological father of the baby must sign a paternity form, along with the mother, that is given to the parents at the hospital in which the baby was born. This way is quick, easy and free and the baby has benefits from having both its parents. Though after the form is signed, both parents have 60 days to withdraw the acknowledgement, either can do this by signing a rescission form. Then the man would once again not be the baby’s legal father. After 60 days, the decision is pretty much final and it would be very difficult to have the court overturn the paternity acknowledgement if no rescission form was signed.

A legal father of a child with custody has legal responsibilities and rights with his child. His responsibility is regulated and administered by state authorities though issues may differ from state to state. Typically, a father is responsible for protection of child neglect, providing financial support, making sure the child has access to education, shelter, clothing and food and also providing them with fit medical care when needed. Though he is not legally required, a good father should also be there for the child emotionally, not just financially. He should raise and teach his child good morals and is responsible for who he or she becomes. A good father should be known as a role model or family for the child, not just a legally required provider.

Prior to lesson five, I knew that parenting was hard on both financial and emotional levels. I knew and know that a parent has to be there and constantly has to watch and protect their child from even the simplest things like stairs or electrical outlets. A parent has to be there for the child as they grow to protect, nurture, support and teach them along with providing the essential needs of food, water and shelter. Raising a child is no longer about you and where you are going, what’s going to happen to you, how will you do certain things, it is about the child and how you can best raise and help the child to their own benefit. There is no time for ‘me’ anymore, no time to be selfish or worry about anything other than your child. This is why parenting is usually done in plural, to split the load because it is indeed, a lot of work.

Thanks to these reasons, being a single parent is an enormous amount of work. Multiple jobs might need to be taken up because you are no longer providing for only yourself, you are providing for you and your child(ren). Single parents often have to drop out of school and give up on their education seeing as there