No, I don't think that's the case always. Most of the children usually stay with their mothers especially when they're younger. And usually the mother has the custody of the children, as long as she can support them.

Sometimes, even if the mother can't support them & the father is an over the road truck driver, the mother still gets custody. My hubby's ex-wife has been on welfare since they divorced when the boys were little. They divorced over the stupidest reason in the world too, my hubby's job at the time. He was an over the road truck driver because at the time it was the best paying job & he wanted to do something good for his family. Well she threw a fit & they divorced. She got custody of the kids, and he hasn't seen them in at least 6 years because she's still upset over his trucking job.

Sometimes, I wonder if it would be better for the boys if we tried to get custody. I mean, it can't be teaching them good work ethics if their mother lives on welfare & just sits around watching TV all day, can it?

And before anyone accuses me of just having one side of the story or being jealous of her, she has admitted to me that she didn't like hubby's job & she just sits around all day 'looking' for work.

There are certainly more mothers heading up sinlge parent households than fathers, but I think that is changing as fathers become more confident about standing up for their right to care for their children. I do think that young children are normally best with their mother (not always) but after that there is no reason why a single father cannot be just as good a single parent as the mother.

Originally Posted by schmuley

I agree with this - in my personal experience, the courts are heavily biased toward awarding custody to the mother, and in many cases, this is not what's best for the children.

I agree on that. I believe that in a case of custody both mum and dad should be assessed and the one who seem better fit as the parent should be rewarded primary custody

Originally Posted by Nathan

As far as I can gather there aren't many single fathers out there with kids. Is this because a lot of fathers go out and get drunk and don't take as much responsibility as mother's do?

Yes, is true that there are more single mothers than single fathers , and one of the reasons may be that usually a woman will fight more fiercely to have her children with her than a man , other reason may be that men are getting remarried more often and more quickly after a divorce than women . Sometimes a woman,especially if she's suffered from domestic violence , is just not willing to take the risk to enter another marriage and goes by better not accompanied at all than in a bad company .

I think it is still expected for the man to go out and earn the money and therefore the mother has the children as she can stay at home and look after them. It also seems that people think it is better for the children to stay with their mother. I think it all depends on the specific case as to whether this is true or not.

There probably are a few, but not much at all, and I can bet that most of them were widowed.
The only reason I see for such a low number of single fathers is because most men nowadays are just plain irresponsible and the simple thought of living a life with obligations scares them to no end.

Of course, this does not apply to all men since I am fully aware that there are good guys out there, don't get me wrong, but it is also a fact that most of the men who have had children these past few years are young, jobless and clueless boys who never learn the first time.