Abstract

The study examined single parenting and its effects on the development of children in Nigeria. The study revealed that single parents/solo parents lack partners to share financial and child care responsibilities with. The study also unveiled that finance is the major problems encountered by the majority of single parents. This is because majority of the single parents find it difficult to meet the basic needs of their children such as food, clothing, school fees, and other personal needs. This also accounts for the difficult in maintaining discipline among their children. The study concluded that majority of single parents are faced with economic, emotional and social problems which translate into greater risk of embarking on dangerous behaviors by their children such as drugs, alcohol and criminal activities. A secondary source of data collection was used for this study. The study recommends that government should create more job opportunities and increase wages as such single parent can also benefit in order to cope with the difficulties they face. Also single parents should engage in savings such as local contribution, that no matter how small their income may be, they may be able to satisfy the required needs of their household, which to some extent will also curtail the crime rate in our dear macrocosm by the children of solo parents.