E. Franklin Frasier in his book Black Bourgeois often made reference to the fantasy mind-set that many moderately wealthy Black middle class people and families bragged about and showcased publicly through mainstream mediums, and much of the same mind-set and people still exist today.....[more]

A Mother's Plan for her Black Son

Bringing a Black man into this world, into this country, into this racialist society requires an unyielding plan, a devoted strategy that will avoid the forthcoming hurdles set before him. Below is a long term plan that if put into place by the single mother raising a Black son, could help defeat the traps set for him by the social structure of this country.....[more]

How to Raise a Child to Have Character

What use is baring and raising a child if the parent turns the child over to psychosomatic drugs such as Ritalin and Prozac? How can parents avoid the pain of seeing their child behind bars, homeless, prostituting, addicted to drugs, or even suffering from more emotional disorders such as anger, bitterness, hate, prejudice, or plain devoid of cultural literacy? Raise the child with character.......[more]

Cynthia Hunter Johnson on Child Support Programs
By Cynthia Johnson - 26 April 2005

Support programs
For a long time now, government programs have assisted families who were unable to support themselves and their children totally. Welfare helps poor families survive by providing food vouchers, medical assistance, and a small dollar amount to aid with other household expenses. Initially set to give temporary support between employment and hardships, not to provide long term or life-long support. These programs provide a deterrent to help prevent cost of living crimes.......[more]

Preparing Your Daughter for the Black Male Shortage

Theories suggest that the Black population in America suffers a lack of Black men, better described in the circle of single Black females as a shortage of good Black men. To address the theory directly, there is no real shortage of Black men, just a shortage of the marrying kind as defined by today's woman........[more]

A Generation Robbed and Cheated

The inner city then (40 years ago) and the inner city now are different worlds. Different because times have changed and people have changed. For every Black soul over the age of 40 who have escaped the inner city into the suburbs and have raised children beneath suburban stigmas, there is a Black child in the inner city who has no knowledge of the society in which he lives other than what he or she sees and hears each day........[more]

The Day Care Generation

With all the controversy over the day care dilemma in American society - whether children are developing properly or not because of too much time spent away from their parents - there is a dilemma brewing that not many people have considered yet. Like most issues that are ignored until it is too late, such as national security and terrorism, the day care issue is one that could bring about a slow and declining change in American culture without anyone noticing until it is too late.......[more]

Boundaries – Why Are They Needed?
By Derek Randel and Gail Randel M.D.

Imagine a child who lacks ownership of his own life, has no self-control, and lacks respect for others. If these were the qualities of your son, how would you feel for his future wives?

Yes, wives is plural, this is one major reason we need to set boundaries for our children. One study showed that children born recently on average will have more spouses than kids. Here are a few examples of children who lack boundaries:......[more]

Before Becoming A Parent

At one time having and raising children was simply a normal part of life and everyone was expected to contribute to the world's population and furthermore to God's natural law of replenishing the earth. However, in today's society, having and raising children has become an option needing consideration such as choosing a career, a marriage partner, or even whether to give life to the child or not.......[more]

Stepfamilies

The stepfamily in today's culture has taken authority by pushing the traditional family aside. A single and looking person can barely avoid the stepfamily situation in America today so here are some myths to dispel and tips for surviving this new form of the American family......[more]

The Virgin Thief

Parents, teachers, and scholars vigorously search for the answer to preventing sexually active teenagers from teen pregnancy, disease, and from ruining their lives. They coordinate programs, both private and government, that will supposedly thwart this growing trend: they campaign over the television airways using pop stars and celebrities who blurt witty phrases and clauses they hope will permeate into young people's minds so they can stop the madness......[more]

The Old School

If you lived as a child in the 40's, 50's, 60's or 70's. Looking back, it's hard to believe that we have lived as long as we have.....[more]

Raising Teenagers in a Crazy World

If you have teenagers and are having a difficult time handling them, maybe something in these few words will help......[more]

Marrying to Avoid Poverty in Old Age

With new Social Security reform proposed, it is eminent that this will effect the Black community somewhere down the line, and where it pertains to Black single female-headed households, maybe getting married would be a better option.......[more]

Fatherly Advice to the Single Black Woman

It has become common knowledge that a child needs a father or father figure in his or her life. Without one, many children grow lacking certain characteristics within their personality that would otherwise allow them to relate to certain people in certain ways.......[more]

Reclaiming the Single Black Female

Brothers and sisters, the gender warfare between Black men and women must cease. This war is harming each of us including our children. The question after any argument has gone on for too long is, how did this begin, and who started it? The reality is that many disputes begin naturally but escalate via instigation, and the culprit in this war between Black men and women has been the United States government from the beginning........[more]

The Expanding Cycle of Black Single Parenting

A cycle is an entity that goes around and around infinitely never breaking its loop. An expanding cycle is one that grows larger as it loops, such as a snowball rolling down a hill. The Black single-parent dilemma has become a never-ending expanding cycle due to a few reasons deliberately unconnected by current research. However, Afromerica will connect these reasons thus giving a more realistic reason why Black single-parent families are expanding.......[more]

More Children Living With Grandparents

Has anyone noticed the subtle rise of children living with grandparents? If you have children in school and sometimes attend school functions, you may have noticed that there are more people there that could be your parent than there are people your own age. This is because there is definitely a rise in children living with their grandparents instead of their parents......[more]

23 Tips for Single Parents and Dating

Dating as a single parent can get stressful if your priorities are wrong. It involves a balance of splitting time and energy between being a single adult and a good parent. There are times when it can be very difficult to combine these areas because you still need some time alone, with friends and to date, but you do not want to feel like you are neglecting your child either. Single parents go through bad dates and broken hearts as other singles, but have the added complication and worries of considering the effects on the kids.....[more]

Newborns Seven reasons babies cry and how to soothe them
by Anne Beal, M.D. Approved by the BabyCenter Medical Advisory Board

Babies cry. There's no way to get around it. It's simply how they communicate. Since your baby can't talk, you may worry, "How will I know what he or she wants?" At first it can be difficult, but a large part of parenting is trial and error, and you'll soon learn to anticipate their needs and wipe away their tears. These are the most common reasons babies cry. If your little one is wailing, work your way down the list and chances are you'll find the cure.....[more]

Children of single parents are more likely to drop out of school, to become idle, and to have a child as a teen. This finding is contributed to a lower standard of living largely and explains why teens from broken homes are more likely to drop out of school, be out of work, and have a child.

Overall, the poverty rate is 5.3% for 2-parent families, 26.5% for single-parent families, and 8.7% for stepfamilies, with substantial differences between whites and. Furthermore, Black children in 2-parent families are still more likely to be poor than white children in single-parent families.

Afro Interpretation

Many will argue these statistics by testifying that they were raised by a single parent and came out OK, and that they are raising or have raised a child as a single parent and that child is OK. Both arguments are valid. The findings and stats above state that 26.5% of all single parents, not ALL single parents as compared to 5.3% of two-parent families.

The fact remains, however, that children from a single parent family are at a higher risk than children from a two-income family to fall into cycles of poverty.

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Afromerica: Where its all Black & white and some gray areas.