🏠 What it means to have grown up in a single-parent household
Growing up in a single-parent household often made you feel "less than" or incomplete compared to "normal" families.
You learned to take on more responsibility than other kids your age, helping to fill the gaps left by having fewer adults in the house. While your friends worried about homework and play dates, you were managing household responsibilities, mediating conflicts, or becoming the emotional support your parent needed. This premature responsibility taught you that your worth was tied to how much you could handle and how little you needed.
The absence of that second parent meant missing a particular role model, perspective, and source of support that could have helped you understand different ways of being in the world. You developed an intense self-reliance mixed with a deep fear of depending on anyone—because people disappear, relationships end, and you learned early that the only person you can truly count on is yourself.