Advice on letting your boyfriend move in with you and your kids

Wendy Walsh, PhD Relationship & Parenting Expert, shares advice for single parents on letting your boyfriend move in with you and your kids
Single Parent Dating | Advice On Letting Your Boyfriend Move In
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Advice on letting your boyfriend move in with you and your kids

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Deciding to cohabitate with your boyfriend or girlfriend when you're a single parent is a very big decision. It's a whole lot different than when you're young, early in your careers, when you're in college where it's just about splitting expenses and kind of shacking up for a while. There are many people involved. The most important thing I want you to understand is that a revolving door of parental figures is not good for children emotionally. It really destabilizes them. And the fact that you're only deciding to cohabitate rather than marry me tells me that this commitment isn't a strong enough one, if you're not ready to get married. The other thing I want you to know is about a very disturbing statistic, that children who live in a home with a non-biologically related male - your boyfriend, a stepfather, a stepbrother, have 11 times the risk of sexual, physical or emotional abuse. This is serious, single moms out there. This is a big risk, and you want to be sure that this is the one. That he's going to be safe for your children. That he's going to be there in the long haul for you and your kids. So I'm not not a big proponent of having someone move in as a parent figure when you're not married. I'm not necessarily a big proponent of marriage for everyone, but I will you that, statistically speaking, children have a better outcome. We just don't have enough support in our culture for single mothers, but when a couple is married and they're pouring lots of resources and two sets of adult's attention into kids, they tend to do a lot better.

Wendy Walsh, PhD Relationship & Parenting Expert, shares advice for single parents on letting your boyfriend move in with you and your kids

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Wendy Walsh, PhD

Relationship & Parenting Expert

Dr. Wendy Walsh was nominated for an Emmy Award for her work as co-host on The Dr. Phil spinoff, The Doctors TV show. She also hosts Investigation Discovery Network’s “Happily NEVER After,” as well as being part of Dr. Drew’s Behavior Bureau on HLN Network. On CNN and 9 Network, Australia, she breaks down the psychology of sex, love, gender roles, divorce, parenting and other human behaviors. Dr. Wendy is an Adjunct Professor of Psychology at California State University, Channel Islands. She holds a B.A. in Journalism, a Masters degree in Psychology, and a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology, and is the author of three books and numerous publications, including The 30-Day Love Detox. She appears regularly on The Today Show, CBS This Morning, Good Morning America, The Steve Harvey Show, The O’Reilly Factor, Inside Edition, The Katie Couric Show, Jane Velez-Mitchell, and The View.

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