Parsing ini files with a string being interpreted as a single item array

Question

I've got an .ini file that has an array structure such as this

[my_array]
[house]=red
[car]=blue
[children]=boy,girl

The problem with this is that the items without a comma get interpreted as strings, and the items that do have a comma become arrays. When handling this .ini file using the controller and (especially) the view of an application, this becomes a nuisance when checking if an item is an array or string.

Is there a way to make the string become an array even if it is only one item?