ROLE MODELS SHOW SINGLE PARENTING CAN BE SUCCESS
ALEX HOGG 19 MAY
Being single parent raised makes it easy for me to identify with baggage that accompanies such apparently dysfunctional childhood. But it’s not all bad. Fate often intervenes in a very positive way, turning this perceived disadvantage into a powerful motivator. Ask Julius Malema.
The richest man who ever lived, John D Rockefeller, had an absent father who spent most of his time with a second, hidden wife and family. Even more famously, love child Barack Obama never knew his highly educated Kenyan father who permanently left when the future US President was two and a half years old.
Steve Jobs, founder and subsequent rescuer of the most valuable company on earth, battled to understand why his similarly well educated biological parents gave him up for adoption. Equally disruptive Jeff Bezos of Amazon, born Jeffrey Preston Jorgensen, never met his biological father who divorced the future billionaire’s mother when Jeff was 18 months old.
South Africa has an army of children growing up in a similar way. Rather than reinforcing their perceived disadvantage, it might be an idea to point them towards numerous positive role models. Those achievers who have proved that often what society tut-tuts as adversity can actually be an advantage.