How Divorce Is Affecting Family Summary

How Divorce Is Affecting Kids What stood out to me about this scenario was Isabel's view that marriage is gradually disappearing. The author feels that many young adults drift into parenthood unintentionally. They may be cohabiting at the time their child is born, but about half of these couples will have divorced by the time the child is about 5 years old. Only the few educated parents get married before having children and plan appropriately. The author wonders if marriage can be restored as the standard way of raising children. In my opinion, unless we come to grips with what is happening to parenting and marriage, there will be no substantial progress. For every child saved from poverty by a social program or otherwise, another one is entering poverty due to the continued breakdown of the typical modern family. If we could turn back the clock of marriage to 1970s, before the sharp rise in single parenthood began, the child poverty rate would much lower than it is now and fewer children will be doomed by divorce. Isabel feels that even social children programs are not reducing this trend as much as failed parenthood is increasing it. It is clear that the author seems to acknowledge that the decline in marriage and the growth of …show more content…
Single-parent families are not only common but also far more socially acceptable than they were in the past. Scholars studying low-income or working-class communities have found out that the women in these communities no longer think it is important or even realistic to depend on the men in their lives. They have seen or experienced too much infidelity, divorce, substance abuse and other bad behavior to fully rely on their partners. Critics argue that we should accept the new reality and support single parents by providing more health care, childcare cash assistance and