History Main / StrugglingSingleMother

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This is a common incarnation of the struggling single mother. This trope will usually involve just one child, usually a son. The mother and son usually have [[GoodParents a very close relationship]], perhaps with occasional bickering. If Mom has multiple kids, it's more likely she'll have a [[ParentsAsPeople more distant relationship with each]], though she'll still try her hardest.

Often times TruthInTelevision. Sub-trope to DisappearedDad. SingleParentsAreUndesirable is a similar trope where single parents have difficulties finding love. See {{Housewife}} and GoodParents. For an inversion, see GlamorousSingleMother. May well have been divorced from the DisneylandDad, who has a lot more money due to not needing to raise a kid. May result in SingleMomStripper.

** ''Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians'' establishes Sally Jackson as one. The reason she's single is that the father of her child is Poseidon, one of the gods who's specifically forbidden from bearing children. On top of that she's an orphan who had to drop out of high school to care for her sick uncle and whose son, by his own admission, isn't an easy kid. [[spoiler: She eventually gets a break when she launches her writing career, remarries, and has another child, Estelle.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Hilda}}:'' Johanna is a notable example. [[spoiler: Because her ex-husband travels spontaneously around the world and unable to keep to the timetables]], she had to raise Hilda on her. The money is not the big issue (although in one episode she took a job at hardware store, due to not receiving enough assignments as graphic designers), but the fact Hilda gets into freaky adventures with supernatural forces on air makes her worry for her safety. This culminates in Johanna grounding Hilda twice for lying about her adventures, but being visibly unhappy.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Hilda}}:'' [[Characters/HildaJohanna]] is a notable example. [[spoiler: Because her ex-husband travels spontaneously around the world and unable to keep to the timetables]], she had to raise Hilda on her. The money is not the big issue (although in one episode she took a job at hardware store, due to not receiving enough assignments as graphic designers), but the fact Hilda gets into freaky adventures with supernatural forces on air makes her worry for her safety. This culminates in Johanna grounding Hilda twice for lying about her adventures, but being visibly unhappy.

* ''VideoGame/StickyBusiness'': In ''[[DownloadableContent Plan With Me]]'', Violet Stone is a single mom who struggles to help her teenage daughter Emily with her exams. Violet asks you for some stickers with washi tape on them to try cheering Emily up since the latter liked stickers as a kid.

* ''VideoGame/{{Persona 5}}'':

* Camila from ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'' ended up raising her daughter Luz alone after her father passed away of a terminal illness. While money doesn't seem to have been an issue, Camila clearly struggles to cope with her husband's death while raising a child, and the fact that Luz constantly acts out due to her undiagnosed neurodivergence earns Camila quite a bit of scorn from school staff and other parents, and ends with her decision to send Luz to Reality Check Summer Camp. [[spoiler:Her situation doesn't become much better after Luz's friends are stranded in the human realm, as while she doesn't mention money problems, judging from the amount of coupons scattered around her bedroom it can be reasonably inferred that suddenly having to care for ''six'' children instead of just one is seriously straining Camila's budget.]]
** At the start of Season 2, Eda qualifies as well. She's fully taken responsibility as Luz's caretaker, but with the portal to the Human Realm destroyed she has no human junk to sell and thus no means of income. The season's first episode shows her admitting to Lilith that she gave up her apple blood money to get Luz griffin eggs (as it's one of the few things on the Boiling Isles she can eat). Averted the same episode when Luz and Eda get their hands on a rare, valuable substance, ending their money troubles for a while.

** ''Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians'' establishes Sally Jackson as one. The reason she's single is that the father of her child is Poseidon, one of the gods who's specifically forbidden from bearing children. [[spoiler: She eventually gets a break when she launches her writing career, remarries, and has another child, Estelle.]]

** Diana's manager at Taco Whiz is a single mother struggling to make ends meet, and whose financial situation is made worse since her ex refuses to buy his alimony.

* ''Fanfic/TheRavenAndTheOwlet'' follwos Lilith Clawthorne as she is thrust into becoming Luz and King's caretaker after Eda dies from her curse, despite her misgivings about being a mother. Several chapters show her struggling with finances after being cut off from her savings, and, once she starts embracing her role as Luz' mother, she begins making a conscious effort to prevent Luz from finding out how much she's struggling, [[GoodParents not wanting her to spend her childhood worrying about finances]].

* In ''LightNovel/EvenThoughImAFormerNobleAndSingleMother'', it's even spelled out in the title that poor Shirley has to raise her two young daughters while also being a B-Rank adventurer to make ends meet. The "Struggling" part of the trope, however, is largely self-imposed and thus downplayed, as Shirley is B-rank purely by choice despite the Guild's attempts to convince her to accept a promotion to A-rank (long story short, she values the freedom she has and the time she spends with her daughters too much), and while not living in obvious wealth, her daughters do not appear to want for anything (it probably helps that the trio were taken in by Martha and her husband, a very nice couple who insist on helping Shirley out); Shirley simply has absurdly huge standards regarding her parenting to an almost comical degree, to the point that she seeks out a '''dragon-slaying''' quest just so she can get the one ingredient that the local pharmacy is missing for a special medicine that will cure her daughters' illness... which Martha pointed out would most probably run its course in '''just a few days''' and even compares it to the '''common cold'''.

* ''VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry'': Rosa is a young woman in the flower of her thirty years, back from [[FreudianExcuse a rather troubled childhood]] and [[RepressedMemories a trauma from which she has never fully recovered]], whose life has taken a rather problematic turn since her daughter's father left her 9 years ago while she was still pregnant after they both got into debt with some loans. Despite being the owner of a design company based on selling occidental clothes and accessories, her business does not go as she hopes and struggles to make money to pay off her former partner's debt. In addition, her daughter Maria is a [[SpoiledBrat rather]] [[AmbiguousDisorder problematic]] {{c|reepyChild}}hild and often and willingly [[TroubledAbuser Rosa can not not physically and emotionally discharge all the stress accumulated over the years]] [[AbusiveParents on her when Maria does not obey her]].