Divorce

1437 Words3 Pages

Each and every day a child somewhere in the world is experiencing major changes within their family. One of those major changes is divorce or separation of parents. Divorce is “the action or an instance of legally dissolving a marriage”(Webster, 2011 p1). Today’s reality shows that couples only have one in two odds of remaining together. “ The U.S. Census bureau – involved in research about counseling children of divorce- estimating that approximately 50% of all American children born in 1982 lived in a single-parent homes sometime during their first 18 years. Mostly are due to divorce”(Children of Divorce, 2008 p.1). The rapid increase in divorce rates is a factor that has contributed to the large decline of the typical family. “Over 1 million children are involved in new divorces each year. Between 1966 and 1976 the divorce rate in the United States doubled. Currently 32% of children in the United States do not live with two married parents, this remains a highly significant number of children living in single-parent or reconstituted households”(Rich, Molloy, Hart, Ginsberg and Mulvey, 2001 p.163).

Divorce can be an emotional bumpy rollercoaster ride for children and parents. Children many times become pawns in bad separations and divorces. The children are sometimes forced to join sides or even choose side. However in other cases, some parents try to do everything possible to protect their children from the pain of separation and divorce. Although parents attempt to shelter their children from all the pain, they still end up with scars that follow them throughout life. Some children who have experienced these scars from divorce exhibit signs of anger, resentment, depression, neglect, isolation and have serious issues with...

... middle of paper ...

...al life, and make the children realize that post divorce if the children love both the parents equally, then it is absolutely okay. The biggest concern for children of divorce is that they think that divorce is their fault. So, the parents must not leave any stone unturned to guarantee that the children do not develop this opinion”(Divorce Group Counseling, 2009 p.2).

It is obvious that children of divorced parents with consciously or unconsciously know that there is parental tension in the marriage prior to any divorce of separation of their parents. Naturally a child would be affected in some form whether or not visible or not visible signs show. Therefore if parents are planning to divorce or separate they should prepare and assist their children by enrolling them into some type of group counseling to insure the transition with this life change is smooth.

Open Document