The Effects Of Divorced Parent Raising Children

It has often been said that if takes a community to raise a child and this is true. With the amount of individuals having children out of wedlock and the divorce rate constantly increasing more and more home are being run by one-parent. One parent raising the child does not just have an effect on the parent but the child as well. This particular social problem will be looked at from multiple perspectives, also the symbolic interactionist, functional/ dysfunctional, and conflict view of divorce.

A social problem is a condition that at least some people in a community view as being undesirable. In many people eyes divorce is a social problem, because families were designed to be with a mother, father, and children. This topic was chosen because I am a product of divorced parents and am also raising children as a divorced parent. It is easy is some ways and difficult in others. That is said because there is no way a female parent can teach a boy how to be a man and no way can a male parent teach a girl how to be a lady.

As a health care professional it is important to understand the importance of two parents in the household, but also to understand how it can work out with just one.

Issues such as discipline and parent working outside the home can be stressful for the parent and child. The parent can be either too lenient or too excessive with their discipline. This will either cause the child to lose respect for the parent and run wild or feel the parent was too hard on them and runaway. Parents have to be one way at all times, not look to be their child’s friend but someone that they can look to for advice and strength when

needed.
Parental conflict before, during and after a divorce has harmful effects on children, therefore it is important the children receive the right amount of counseling to deal with the stress of the divorce (Lee and Bax 2000). According to Amato children who experience parental divorce, compared with children in continuously intact two-parent families, exhibit more conduct problems, more social symptoms of psychological maladjustment, lower academic achievement, more social difficulties, and poorer self-concepts (Amato 2000).
Conflict theory encompasses the idea that people struggle to reconcile conflicting ideals. Couples negotiate and bargain how to split possessions, but can also show aggression and appeasement to coerce each other (S. Grey 2014). According to the symbolic interaction perspective, relationships are founded on symbolic interaction. After all, persons communicate using shared system of symbolic interaction, and all cultural and the social interaction is symbolic. Marriage, like all human relationships is facilitated by the symbolic interaction that takes place between persons (Farley).
No one ever gets married and immediately focuses on their divorce; it is something that happen due to lack of communication or falling out of love. The important thing is to make sure there is open communication with the children at all times. They must understand whatever is going on is no fault of theirs but something going on between the parents. It is also important to get adequate counseling for the child/children involved even if the claim they do not need it.
Divorced families can function just as well as two parent homes. It is so common these days it is no longer looked at as a social problem. Keeping an open relationship with the children and non-custodial parent should try to have a relationship with the children as well. This will determine the child success rate when they become an adult.