“Her” divorce often involves financial worries and task and emotional overload as she tries to be the complete parent for the children. “His” divorce involves loss of time with children, as well as a more general loneliness. Being the “visiting parent” is often difficult, but maintaining the father-child bond is significant in a child’s adjustment to divorce. Our society has traditionally envisioned the mother as the primary parent, she has the means to provide of the child in ways that the father cannot. However from some real life examples I feel both partners in a divorce suffer, cause of the divorce also makes things worse on the partner at fault. In the recent years the society is becoming more accepting to divorced parents.…
Parents that are going through a marriage breakdown, divorce and separation can be stressful for all involved particularly the children/young person. They can become emotionally withdrawn and suffer a lack of confidence which can create low self esteem. Due to family upheaval, they may lose focus in their own abilities and suffer mentally. Similarly, children from single parent families may suffer from a lack of a male/female role model which can cause social stigma. Dual parents and lone parents may have to work long hours, leaving little room for direct social, emotional and intellectual support. Becoming part of a new step-family through a parent meeting a new partner can cause friction between children from each side. This could lead the child/young person to become socially and emotionally withdrawn which could increase the risk of bullying by peers.…
Divorce is very hard on everyone in the family. It is stressful for the parents but also for the children. Aside from a death in the family, divorce is one of the most stressful events for a family. Divorce can impact the way a family communicates with one another and how they relate to one another. Children under the age of five may have more frequent temper tantrums, trouble sleeping, and they may feel more separation anxiety. School aged children may experience sadness, guilt, and anger, they may also become disinterested in school and can develop phobias. Teens are likely to develop insecurities, feel sadness, and other emotions; they are also likely to use and abuse drugs and alcohol, engage in risky behaviors such as criminal activity, skipping school etc.…
Parents are often told to “think about the children.” Doctor Judith S. Wallerstein, the Executive Director of the Center for the Family in Transition, California, stated in her scholarly journal : “A comprehensive review of research from several disciplines regarding long-term effects of divorce on children yields a growing consensus that significant numbers of children suffer for many years from psychological and social difficulties associated with continuing and/or new stresses within the post-divorce family and experience heightened anxiety in forming enduring attachments at later developmental stages including young adulthood.” In this, Wallerstein is making the claim that divorce effects children so deeply that they suffer from stress, anxiety, and psychological and social difficulties. While these have been common results, divorce is sometimes in the well-being of all family members. If parents argue often, disrupting and terrifying children, (especially if young) then separating would relieve family members from the anxiety that arguments and fighting cause. Robert E. Emery, a Professor of Psychology and Director of the Center for Children, Families, and the Law, Virginia, claims experts are often confused on the true effects of divorce on children. In his article, he includes children whose parents’ marriage “was full of intense conflict and…
Sun, U., & Li, Y. (2002). Children’s well-being during parents’ marital disruption process: A pooled time-series analysis. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 64(2), 472-488.…
When parents divorce, children’s interests are often ignored or discounted. Angry parents are focused on exacting revenge, or are interested in moving on to a new life, and disregard the painful emotions experienced by their children. School difficulties that the children experience are viewed as problems endemic to the child, rather than latent results of sometimes protracted and contentious divorce, and custody proceedings. Court procedures recommend, and often require that children and adults pursue individual…
All over the world, parents decide to divorce and this leaves children hurt and confused. Because of their innocence and immaturity, children are unable to process stressful events as adults are. Their reactions and behavior can range from delicate to quick-tempered. The children may lose contact with one parent or they might decide to makes some bad decisions in their life due to the feelings of neglect. Some of the bad choices could be violence and struggling in academics. There are impacts on teens that could be short term but there are also long term effects too, because children look up to their parents as role models. Family clearly impacts teenagers, especially a divorce. Faber and Wittenborn (2010) report that on average, children in divorced families and stepfamilies, as compared to those in non-divorced families, are more likely to exhibit behavioral and emotional problems, lower social competence and self-esteem, less socially responsible behavior, and…
Perhaps no other area in the social sciences inspires as much debate as the issue of parents getting divorced. While many marriages end in divorce and any such breakup of the marital union is understood to be a challenging and emotional event for anyone and everyone involved. Researchers are particularly interested in how divorce affects any children in the family. This effect has been the source of much controversy, as major studies in the past decade have found results are sometimes in direct opposition to each other. Even the methods used to conduct these studies is sometimes leaves suffering families confused and wondering who they should listen to.…
The person I choose to interview was my mother Elizabeth . The reason I chose to interview her was that I wanted to gain a closer bond with her. She is the closet relative living from which I could gain the most knowledge.…
I have witnessed this myself among my friends whose parents are separated or divorced. Love is there for both mom and dad but one parent is just around more often. In all my friends’ cases, their mother is the caretaker. Marriage allows for fathers to be around their children more often. Mothers are not left out in this case however. CIVITAS tells us, “In one American study, 30 percent of young adults whose parents divorced reported poor relationships with their mothers,…
Families come in all shapes and sizes. Some families have two parents in the home, others are ran by single parents, while others have stepmothers and stepfathers with children having biological and half-siblings. These dynamics are intriguing and often I have wondered how the parents in such families may differ in their parenting styles based on the relationship of the Mother and Father. In the traditional family, the Mother and Father are generally married and reside in the same household raising the children they have created together, while other families of divorced parents may have joint custody of their children and live in separate residences. I am curious to know how these parents operate, specifically in the area of discipline. Child Behavior tends to be greatly effected by a change in the family structure, such as divorce. Not only do children behave poorly in school after a divorce, but also there are studies that show High School drop out rates are significantly higher in a…
I did my interview on a parent who brought her daughter into child care when…
that of other children. It is time to recognise that all children can be expected to undergo a…
The separation of spousal couples, commonly called divorce, has created its own world of problems within society. When a couple with children separates, it often results in court cases and the children feeling the pressure of choosing a parent to side with. Often times, the children will become angry with one or both parents which can result in loss of contact once the child is an adult and is an event that can cause marriages of the effected children to fail. For example, up to 22% of women have been divorced and 21% of men (“Actual Divorce Rate and Risk”). Though the percentages may seem low, the…
Society makes judgment if we should or should not have children (Lamanna & Riedmann, 2012, p.226). We want to make good choices in life. Some people may think starting a family is a walk in the park, but this isn’t true. Starting a family is a lifetime commitment. Parents are not given a manual on raising a child, therefore being a parent is a learning process and it is something that requires a lot of time and dedication. Even though, there are no set rules on what to do when starting a family of your own, society expects everyone to know the do’s and don’ts or being able to determine right from wrong while still trying to raise a family off your own personal beliefs and values. Just know that not everyone is going to agree with the way on how to raise a family but as long as you are living up to the best of you expectations that best suits your children and spouse than that’s all that matters. Just sit back and observe the many different parenting styles and what each family contributes to one another and you will be surprised at how much the very when it comes to ethnicity, background, and race.…