How Does Divorce Affect Children

“Well your dad hasn’t been making good choices and I filed for a divorce. I shouldn’t have put up with him for this long. I’m sorry I couldn’t take it anymore.” Alyssa’s mom explained bits and pieces,, but she was full of questions at this point. She did not even know what this all meant but she wanted to know. She stood there like a statue in the kitchen with a crunched look on her face. A million questions were in Alyssa’s head and one of her first thoughts was who was going to keep the dog. Many ideas followed and linked to another. Where was she going to live? When are we moving out? Was she still going to see her dad? What was the rest of the family going to say? And most of all, what did her dad do that caused this insane situation to …show more content…
In an article by Amy Desai, states that parents may try to take the “easy way out” for divorce which may also result in emotional damage that one can carry with them for 30 plus years. Putting great measures of stress and depression on children can easily delay their development. Daily activities can change along with your personality and attitudes. McKenzie is a 15 year old teen who transfers between her father’s and mother’s house every other week. Her parents have been divorced for two years and they still do not get along. When she goes from one parent’s house to another, she feels bad for leaving the other parent because she loves them both equally and does not want to hurt their feeling. She gets emotional when leaving them. To add, she hates relocating because her parents once again do not get along and she acts as a telephone. If one parent is irritated by something the other did or any problem caused by the other in general, the child may get stuck in the middle of the conflict. McKenzie then has to explain the predicament to the other parent and make sure to not say anything wrong. Also, when McKenzie goes over to her mom’s house she understands that she has friends that she likes to hang out with. On the other hand, when she goes to her dad’s he does not let her invite friends over because he wants his time with her and does not want it wasted with other people. She lost friends and her pieces of her social life due to the time splits with her parents. McKenzie had just wished that she still had a stable family with both the father and mother role demonstrated. The divorce of her parents negatively affected her life by delaying the developmental skills that she would then need for the rest of her life. In an article by Shannon Philpott explains, “Divorce affects family members in many different ways, both positive and negative. While