10 Ways Growing Up With a Single Parent Sets You Up For Love Differently

7. Abandonment is even worse.

We may, on some level, be filling a void in our hearts with the love that we get from you. 

When an old wound is ripped open again, it bleeds more; it bleeds from deeper within. 

The moment we feel neglected by you, our hearts will ooze the pain from both your desertion and our parent’s desertion.

8. We have vowed not to be single parents ourselves.

We sometimes see our childhood as “missing one parent” rather than “having one parent.” 

As sad as that sounds, it sometimes felt like our cup was half empty instead of half full. 

Because we so deeply felt this missing piece, having a second parent for our children is something that is extremely important to us.

9. We are skeptical of lasting love.

We have doubts about happily ever after because we saw our one parent without love for so long. 

And, no, Moms and Dads: we aren’t saying that you didn’t have a life full of love, but we didn’t get to see you IN love. 

We are almost just waiting for our love to end one day, the way our parents’ love did.

10. But I think deep down we really believe in it.

Having a lasting love is something we have wanted our entire lives. 

We don’t take love lightly, and because we want our children to have a second parent, we look at our partners in a futuristic way. 

If we had to choose only one thing to have for the rest of our lives, some would say success, adventure, security, or happiness.

We choose love.