Raising children in a single parent home.

Being a parent is no easy task but it is the most rewarding thing a person can do, not financially rewarding of course.  Kids also have needs, a lot of needs, for example: They need to eat, they need clothes, they need a place to live, they need electricity, they need water, they need heat when it is cold outside, they need.............the list just goes on, and if you are a parent, you already know this.  But what happens when you are a single parent and you have full legal physical custody of  kid/kids and the noncustodial parent pays what they want whenever they want and does not think twice about it?  Is the custodial parent supposed to just magically come up with the money to pay for everything?   The custodial parent is already doing all of the work taking care of the kid/kids, working, getting everyone where they need to be, and providing ALL of the other necessities that the kid/kids need.  The simple answer is yes, pretty much, what else can you do?  If the noncustodial parent decides not to pay then the money has to come from somewhere, right?  So what happens when the custodial parent does not have the necessary money that is needed when it is needed, that parent is just out of luck.  There is definitely something wrong with this system.  So what is the definition of a legal full physical custodial parent?  This is a parent who assumes the role of primary caregiver of their kid/kids.  This means the kid/kids live with this parent because it is what is best for the kid/kids and/or the court has signed off on it. This parent has the bulk of the responsibilities in caring for the kid/kids.  This is a huge responsibility because the kid/kids live with the custodial parent and that parent has to make sure the kid/kids have everything they need including times when the noncustodial parent decides not to pay child support or be active in the kid/kids life.  When the noncustodial parent does not provide the court-ordered child support for their kid/kids, it is harder for the custodial parent and the kid/kids.  This puts not only the weight of caring for the kid/kids all the time but it also puts the weight of trying to pay everything on their own.  It is not fair to the kid/kids or to the custodial parent.  The custodial parent has a million things to do and pay and parents that love their kid/kids do whatever they have to do to for them 100% of the time NO MATTER WHAT!