A Voice Not Heard: A Child’s View
A divorce is hard on a husband and wife, but often times the children of a divorce suffers just as much as the once happy and loving couple. Children do not always understand the reasoning behind a divorce and they tend to blame themselves. They question their every move wondering what they must have done to cause their mommy and daddy to not want to live together anymore. Although, most parents do everything in their power to keep their children from feeling this way, the fact of the matter stands that everyone involved gets hurt somewhere along the way.
As history shows, our divorce rates are continually rising. Divorce is becoming more common and thus socially acceptable, so more children are growing up in single-parent homes. Some say it is due to women being in the workforce. They claim that the mother not being around 24/7 in the household cooking, cleaning, and tending to everyone’s needs has put too much stress on a marriage; therefore, affecting the entire family. According to Schaeffer “single-parent households headed by women, which appear to be on the increase in many nations, are typically found in the poorest sections of the populations.”(Sociology Matters, pg.87)
Second, divorce clearly increases the risk that children will suffer from psychological and behavioral problems. Troubled children are particularly likely to develop problems with anger, disobedience, and rule violations. School achievement also can suffer. Other children become sad for prolonged periods of time. They may become depressed, anxious, or become perhaps overly responsible kids who end up caring for their parents instead of getting cared for by them.
Source: Laumann-Billings, L. &. Emery, R.E. (2000). Distress among young adults from divorced families. Journal of Family Psychology, 14, 671-687.
In conversation with hundreds of children, it is clear that they want a chance to be heard on all sorts of topics and to be included in the...