Divorce Speech Outline
SPECIFIC PURPOSE: To inform students of how the divorce of a children’s parents is an extremely traumatic experience and can cause many lasting implications that affect their overall wellbeing.
INTRODUCTION: I. When you’re a child, your greatest source of stability is your parents. When I was young, I remember clearly each time my parents fought or raised their voices at each other. I would squeeze my eyes together and pray that it would end. My greatest fear each time that they would raise their voices at each other was that they would get a divorce. Scenarios would run through my mind of what would happen. I decided that if they divorced, I would just run away, because I could not choose between them.
II. Divorce is a very scary and traumatic experience for children. Going through a divorce will have emotional and behavioral effects.
THESIS STATEMENT: Divorce is an extremely traumatic experience for children, and creates emotional and behavioral implications for them.
BODY: I. A child’s emotional wellbeing is impacted negatively from divorce A. Children who go through divorce are impacted from negative emotional responses and confusion on how to handle tough emotional hurdles properly. 1. According to Sam Margulies in his book, Getting Divorced Without Ruining Your Life, “[Divorce] can create a dangerous process that aligns… children emotionally… and produces a distorted [emotional] perception of a parent” (216). 2. I always wondered how I would be able to make the right decisions if my parents divorced. They were the ones that guided me in the right direction each day, but what if they were both trying to guide me in different directions? Being made to choose which parent is right or wrong, or which parent to take sides with, is very hard on a young child. During childhood, children need the stability that they can only get from both of their parents collectively in order to develop correct emotional
INTRODUCTION: I. When you’re a child, your greatest source of stability is your parents. When I was young, I remember clearly each time my parents fought or raised their voices at each other. I would squeeze my eyes together and pray that it would end. My greatest fear each time that they would raise their voices at each other was that they would get a divorce. Scenarios would run through my mind of what would happen. I decided that if they divorced, I would just run away, because I could not choose between them.
II. Divorce is a very scary and traumatic experience for children. Going through a divorce will have emotional and behavioral effects.
THESIS STATEMENT: Divorce is an extremely traumatic experience for children, and creates emotional and behavioral implications for them.
BODY: I. A child’s emotional wellbeing is impacted negatively from divorce A. Children who go through divorce are impacted from negative emotional responses and confusion on how to handle tough emotional hurdles properly. 1. According to Sam Margulies in his book, Getting Divorced Without Ruining Your Life, “[Divorce] can create a dangerous process that aligns… children emotionally… and produces a distorted [emotional] perception of a parent” (216). 2. I always wondered how I would be able to make the right decisions if my parents divorced. They were the ones that guided me in the right direction each day, but what if they were both trying to guide me in different directions? Being made to choose which parent is right or wrong, or which parent to take sides with, is very hard on a young child. During childhood, children need the stability that they can only get from both of their parents collectively in order to develop correct emotional
Cited: Relationships 17.3 (2010): 331-343. Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection Margulies, Sam. Getting Divorced Without Ruining Your Life. New York: Fireside, 2001. Print.