Absent fatherhood, much more than single motherhood, is the true problem

Walter Russell Mead in Don't Hate Single Moms. Sometimes the best insight is in seeing the unseen, seeing the inverse. It seems like common sense and yet it is surprising how rarely it is done.

But how much do we really need to beat up on the moms? The problem with single motherhood is not that the mother is present; it is that the father is gone. Absent fatherhood, much more than single motherhood, is the true problem. With all kinds of social and economic disadvantages, single moms are doing their best to stand by their kids and get them started. The question is where are the dads — and why so many British boys don’t seem to grow into the kind of responsible partners who stick around. Whatever problems are involved, single mothers, after all, have made the difficult decision to bear, raise and care for a child.

British fatherhood is in a far deeper crisis than British motherhood, and the next generation will not thrive until the Brits do a better job helping more boys become ready, willing and able to father children in more than a strictly biological sense.