Divorce is an emotional stressor that affect young children. Some children may have a high resilience to cope with the change while others shows signs of trauma. In most divorce cases, children are caught in the middle of a custody battle in which they feel as if their life is left in the toss of a coin. Young children often feel guilty if they choose a parent of preference to live with or the court often make the decision in the so call best interest of the child/children. In places like Jamaica where marriages are not quiet common as a common law relationship. Separations do take the same effect on the child/children as in the nature of a divorce. Children who are caught in the midst of these broken union are force to readjust their life, that is, changes in their financial support and the dual parenting network. From my personal experience of a broken union, losing one parent to another relationship was a very difficult experience. It was the unexplained reasons behind the broken union, my parents never include the children in their decision to separate. Even though both of my parents lived in separate homes, visitation was a daily routine, so I guess there was no need for a judge's decision as who was right for the children. There was no cultural guilt or shame as it was a norm in my culture. However in China before the early 1970s children of divorced parents suffers societal shame. A recent research show that children from divorced families suffers anxiety and depression. Fathers are often given custody of their children but if the mother gain custody, the children suffer financially and lives in poverty, sometimes their education get affected. Divorced or common law bond when children are in the midst of these broken relationships, they need to be inclusive of the decision making. Parents need to realize that their children emotion is just as valid as theirs. Parents ought to be civil about building a healthy relationship so that their children could inherit a healthy life.
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Natalie, I didn't consider divorce being a point of stress for children, thank you for sharing. My husband's parents divorced when he was 15 and he is still working thought some of the emotions from that time and events that occurred. So much of who he is now is because of that time. I even wonder if that hadn't happened would we still have met because the events in his life could have been dramatically different!
ReplyDeleteNatalie,
ReplyDeleteI would like to thank you for all your feedback this semester. Its important to gain the opinions of others when in an online class. Thank you for your comments on my blog as well. I wish you luch in all your future plans.