Children Hurting from Parental Seperation and Divorce Essay

Marriage has always been, and remains, one of Canadas most important social structures. Yet more and more marriages are ending in divorce. Canadas divorce rate is currently about fifty percent. Half of all children will witness the break up of their parents marriage. Of these children, another half will witness the break up of a parents second marriage, as well. (Furstenberg, Nord). As a family, divorce is a difficult matter to deal with, but divorce always takes the largest toll on the children involved. ?Many studies have shown that the children of divorce are anywhere from two to three times more likely to end up with serious, long-term damage. Problems like addiction, delinquency, school failure and mental illness are common†¦show more content†¦Children of divorce often suffer from negative psychological effects such as changes of views on marriage, a sense of lost hope for their family and thinking that they have been abandoned and forgotten. Children learn from experi ence. If a child grows up in a home with two parents who love each other, and who show marriage in a positive light the child will perceive marriage as a positive thing. However, if a child is raised in a home with two parents who fight and eventually decide to end their marriage, the child will think, ?why get married in the first place Lloyd Moody, a child of divorce, proves this theory very true. ?I see now that relationships are not meant to last, if my parents after twenty-one, apparently happy years, can?t make it, who can? I am not expecting to get into a relationship and have it last forever.? (Lloyd Moody). This is the way that Lloyd feels a relationship would work out for him in the future, and with good reason. E. Mavis Heatherington indicates that children of divorced parents had roughly double the divorce rate of those from stable families, due in part to a lower commitment to marital permanence and fewer relationship skills. (Third Thoughts on Divorce). Children of div orce see the pain that their parents feel and often decide early on not to get married. They may also think about the children that they may possibly have in the future and how much pain it could cause them if the marriage were to end in divorce.