It is Mother 's Day , and let us celebrate single-mother households -- not as half empty , but as half full of strong women . It is a good time to encourage children raised by women to see themselves as resilient , not doomed . And it is time , today and every day , for our culture to stop assigning blame and start offering help . The 19.7 million children in this country with delinquent or absent fathers are not all headed for lives of crime , drugs , poverty and prison . To begin : Single moms have given us Olympian Michael Phelps , comedian Bill Cosby , Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton . I can name many more , from my own life , and I 'll bet you can from yours . My sons ' good friend , Ellis Coleman , for example -- the 20-year-old superstar also headed for the London Olympics for the U.S. , the wrestler recognized worldwide as the originator of the `` flying squirrel '' takedown . The proud son of a single mom . Popular culture routinely offers up hackneyed depictions of struggling single moms and screwed-up kids . And there is no end of studies , many aimed at getting delinquent dads to step up , that show kids of single moms facing an uphill battle when it comes to such things as performance in school , college attendance and earning potential . I am the single mother of three sons -- grown to manhood and doing just fine . And I am here to tell you that the reality for kids from single-mom households can be as good as it is for kids in two-parent homes -- better , in some cases . Particularly with input from different arenas , single mothers can envision the futures of their children in a very positive light . In the recent book , `` Sons Without Fathers : What Every Mother Needs to Know , '' authors James Dickerson and Mardi Allan assert that positive role models and an environment of support are key to a child 's success . And several recent studies point to a range of factors -- from a mother 's religiosity , external emotional support and a grandparent living in the home -- that can concretely contribute to single mothers ' raising productive , happy children . A study of 1,134 single mothers , published in the April issue of Journal of Marriage and Family , found that those who attend religious services are more likely to experience positive developmental outcomes for their children . In a separate report in February , published in Child Trends , data show that regardless of economic status , ethnicity or education , the single mothers who were regularly offered emotional support had `` children and adolescents who were also more likely to display social competence and school engagement , '' compared with single mothers without social support . A 2002 study published in Demography showed that teenagers living with their single mothers in multigenerational homes `` have outcomes that are at least as good and often better than the outcomes of teenagers in married families . '' I have been divorced since 1996 , when my sons were 7 , 5 and 2 . I have found that my faith practices , help from my siblings , and reliable and persistent help from my mother kept my sons on the straight and narrow . Of course there are single mothers who fail their children . Of course there are good fathers who make sure their children have a chance to succeed . And children with two loving parents in the home can still encounter big troubles . Beyond that , there are realities that are hard to dispute . A new study , `` Father Hunger : An Economic View of Delinquent Fathers , '' describes the apocalypse caused by single parenting framed in economic terms . This white paper , by Idaho-based Economic Modeling Specialists , describes the education gap , earnings gap and ultimately value lost from direct and indirect labor income to the nation 's economy of $ 60 billion per year . According to the study , children growing up in one-parent homes are 16 % more likely to drop out of high school . Only 14.3 % of students from one-parent households will attend some college , compared with 17.6 % in two-parent households . But that is the bad news . I say let 's focus on the other sides of those figures , the kids who succeed and the single moms who get them there . To be sure , single mothers are swimming against the tide in a culture that in its predominant narrative declares our children are liabilities in society , not blessings . For years , screens large and small have been flickering with images of single mothers as seriously flawed and in need of rescue . In `` Modern Family , '' Sofia Vergara 's character , Gloria , needs Jay to financially and emotionally rescue her to help her raise her son . In `` Act Like a Man , Think Like a Lady , '' the single mother character is trying to date herself out of her parenthood predicament . Robert Townsend 's recent `` Diary of a Single Mom '' follows three single mothers who have to band together in order to survive . But beginning next week , `` The Bachelorette '' will for the first time feature a single mother as the sun in the solar system of suitors . That 's a kind of progress , I suppose . Let 's see more of that . And let 's see more success stories . Here are a few : My oldest son graduated from the University of Wisconsin- Madison in 2011 and is now in Madrid earning a master 's in translation in Spanish . My middle son is completing his junior year at the Ohio State University and will graduate next May . My youngest son is headed to the University of Iowa in August . Not bad for a single mom .
Michele Weldon says on Mother 's Day , single mothers should be celebrated . She says popular culture consigns children of single mothers to poverty , but there 's more to story . She says kids of single moms have challenges , but studies show many do very well . Weldon says she 's a single mom of two healthy young men , productive and happy .