I am still pregnant with my first, so I don't truly know how difficult single parenting can be yet... but I have been pondering some benefits to being a single parent, based on comments I've read by non-single parents.
You have the absolute last say when LO is with you in...
-Sleeping arrangements
-Diapering options: CDs or disposables (at home, anyway!)
-Feeding choices: BF or FF / when to ween / when to begin solids
-Parenting styles and techniques
-Style of apparel, toys and various other baby accessories
Personally, I'd love a partner in raising my LO, and wouldn't mind compromising on some of these things to have that extra help and support. But since I'm in my current situation, I figured I'd see all of the above as liberties that I get to enjoy, because I am a single parent I can cloth diaper, bed share, and breast feed without anyone trying to tell me otherwise!
Feel free to add your own
Re: Benefits of being a single parent
My friends and I went through this when I realized I was going to be a single mother...
Your child wont have to go through some gruesome breakup/divorce with you..
Don't have to fight about names
Don't have to worry about any big decisions like vaccinating, circumcision, schooling options, etc
(if the father isn't involved at all... ) Don't have to share your child with anyone or another family
there were more but not coming to mind right now
I thought of this after posting it! No arguments over that one, either
Of course, medical decisions. That's a good one. Also, the not sharing thing... except for daycare
I got some argument about name choice, even a couple of attempts at bullying and bargaining over the name. But I think that was mostly because I told him long before I was even pregnant that he could name our first boy, and I guess he thought that still stood even after I left him when I was 18 weeks pregnant because he refused to step up and help out or change his lifestyle. In the long run he didn't get his way because I knew he wasn't going to be a reliable presence.
Biggest, biggest advantage: you need only worry about your well-being and the well-being of your child.
BD got a drug problem? Doesn't have to be your problem. BD can't manage his own money? That's his own problem, not yours. BD got the body of a man but the mind and/or emotional maturity of a 16-year-old boy? That can stay his own mother's problem (or joy, if that's the way their relationship works)-- doesn't need to be yours.
That freedom to focus all your energy on you & your kid is a powerful thing-- enjoy it!