Is a man who has joint custody (50/50) of a child rightfully considered a “single father?” I’m talking the kid spends 1 week with dad, 1 week with mom, etc. Not a weekend dad.
When someone tells me they are a ‘single parent’ I assume that the other parent has no responsibility for the child. YMMV.
I’d say yes until the man remarries.
Even a parent who has custody every other weekend and hasn’t remarried is a single parent.
Yeah, that’s usually the way I interpret it.
Of course. Why wouldn’t he be? He’s single. He’s a parent. He’s a single parent. Is the woman in your scenario a single mother? Then by what logic wouldn’t the father be a single father?
I take it to mean a person who is raising a child, and has no significant other. If Dad is single, i.e., without partner, during the week he has the kid… then he is a single parent.
Single mother doesn’t necessarily equate to absentee dad.
To my mind it implies an absent other parent.
While my mind immediately assumes that a single parent is the sole custodial parent (although the other parent isn’t necessarily gone, they might just be the every-other-weekend type), I don’t think it has to be that way. I see nothing wrong with considering yourself a single parent if you are splitting 50/50, like in the OP. You are still primarily responsible for the child during your half of the time, you are single, you are a parent. Yup!
That’s not how I read it. A single parent is one who does not have a co-parent at home. The other parent could be very involved, but I’d not living in the house. The only exceptions are when two married/committed parents are separated not by choice- military deployment etc.
I would assume a parent who had a significant responsibility for the child. 50% of the week definitely counts.
It’s hard to say what ‘significant’ is, but, to take a fictional example, Frasier in his Frasier days would not to me be a single father. He’s a father, yes, but he’s not going to have to say no to tennis every Saturday morning due to childcare responsibilities.