Divorce's Toll On Children By Zinmeister Summary

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Taking Sides Paper
Brianna Miller
Brigham Young University
SFL 210, Section #001
19-425-0539

Taking Sides: Divorce Centuries ago, divorce was illegal as well as rarely discussed, but now it is viewed as a common life event for children. In the article “Divorce’s Toll on Children”, author Karl Zinsmeister uses a variety of sources to explain his reasoning that divorce has negative and lasting effects on children. The purpose of this paper is to summarize Zinsmeister’s article, to analyze the research methodology by identifying three weaknesses and one strength in the critical thinking that the author uses, and to provide an opinion on the topic of divorce.
Summary
Zinmeister’s article focuses on the impact of divorce on the millions …show more content…

Every time the author began to write a new claim, he made sure to include statistics, quotes by professionals, quotes directly from children who had experienced a divorce, and examples of studies that were related to the point he was making. Zinmeister never made a claim without having data to support it in some way, and this made most of his points convincing are at least logical. For example, when writing about children’s view of divorce, the author says their opinions are “unambiguous: it’s a disaster” (Zinmeister, 1996, p. 151). Then Zinmeister immediately goes on to cite a survey conducted by a professor where hundreds of students in middle school rated divorce as the second most stressful event in their life. The claim he made was supported by sufficient evidence that proved it to be accurate, and this made for a strong paragraph in his article. Another example was when he claimed that parents tend to underestimate how upset their children will be about a divorce. He cited a study that surveyed parents and children and discovered that the children were more upset by their parents’ divorce than the parents had thought they would be (Zinmeister, 1996, p. 152). His use of data to support his claim resulted in the readers being able to come to a conclusion that the claim was true, or at least believable. This helped the readers …show more content…

I think that there are ways to save a marriage, but too often, married couples divorce because it is the easy way out of an unhappy situation. In this case, both parents put their desire for happiness before the needs of their family as a whole. I believe that other solutions are both possible and effective. One of my main reasons for believing this is because of my religion. I believe that when a man and woman marry, it is for time and all eternity. Families have the potential to be together forever, which is a wonderful blessing, and to disrupt that eternal relationship has profound consequences. Another reason behind my opinion is that I have witnessed the negative effects of divorce on people that I know. Childhood should be a time of happiness, learning, and growing. Instead, I have watched as children must put all of that on hold while their parents go through a divorce. The short-term impact of divorce is terrible and miserable for everyone involved. While people can find success and happiness after divorce, there still is that weight of sadness hanging over memories of their

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