Adult men who grew up in single-parent households are twice as likely as other men to have been sexually abused during childhood, a U.S. study found.

I’m a single parent.

I’m very aware, and outspoken, over the “Mom’s Live-In Boyfriend” problem. Usually in every crime against children, there's a “Mom’s Live-In Boyfriend” suspect; often unemployed, living in her apartment, and serving as a free babysitter. Way too often he has a criminal record.

The risk was higher in one-parent homes with lower incomes than in one-parent homes with higher incomes.

I suppose the lure of free child care overruled the need for personal safety?

I know that there is a world of child predators out there trolling for victims. One only has to turn on the news to see horrific examples. I won’t link the usual, not the high profile ones, but I ran across this shocker today, and I wanted to hurl my coffee.

I’m hyper aware of anyone in the lives of my children. I know where my kids are at all times, the computer is not in anyone’s bedroom, nor are telephones. I know their friends and their job schedules. Call me controlling if you will, I prefer to refer to it as doing my job; emotionally sheltering children who were already victimized before I met them.

Holmes noted that parental absence is common in single-parent homes because the single mother or father has to work to provide for the family. As a result, children may seek an adult with whom to share experiences and bond.

My children are emotionally needy, there’s no doubt. It's my job, as the mama, to meet that need, to bond with them.

I’m now a stay-at-home mom thankfully, living on my retirement since I worked in the school system for 25 years. But even when I worked, I was with my children after school, on weekends and all summer and other holidays. I’m there always.

I’m home when the kids get home from school, I get them up in the morning and out the door, if anything I am very over-protective, but they respond well to that.

This Florida bus driver scares the everything out of me. Another fail-safe mechanism we personally have is that, in a large family, my children travel in packs, 10 at a time getting off the bus from the different schools in the afternoon, a houseful of tattletalers should anyone deviate from schedule.

I don’t want to raise fearful children, just smart ones. We discuss what-to-do scenarios, we cuddle, and they get their emotional needs met within our family; their own need for friendship is usually met here as well since there are many same age children. Living with each other, they’ve learned that these are the people you can trust with your secrets, your past, your fears and your goals.

I’ve watched my other kids grow up and continue to emotionally cling to each other, knowing that they can trust their siblings.

We’re continuing to attempt to turn liabilities into assets. To change fear into confidence, mistrust into dependability. It’s uphill at times, but everyone’s emotional and physical safety is a priority.