Relationship With Divorced Parents Essay

A young boy hears his parents’ arguing. He hears his father yell and then slam the door. He listens to the truck tires squeal as the truck leaves the driveway. Shortly after, he hears the soft cries coming from his mother’s room and wonders “Is this my fault?” Several days go by and he does not see his father. He finally gets the courage to ask his mother when his father will return. She responds that the will not be coming back because they are getting a divorce. His mother then tells him what a terrible person his father is because he is leaving them alone. She complains they may not be able to pay the bills and says they will have to go to court. In a study conducted in 2012 by the National Marriage Project and the Institute for American …show more content…
By labeling divorced parents as having visitation rights, the symbolic interactionist argues a “noncustodial divorced parent may view himself as a visitor in the children’s lives” (Mooney, et al, 2009, p. 150). If the non-custodial parent becomes disengaged in the child’s life, the relationship with the child may be damaged. Research has found damaged relationships with parents has a negative effect on the child in that children score lower in school, have more difficulty with adjustments and developing a self-concept, and have higher levels of aggression (Mooney, et al, 2009, p. 153). In the example given perviously, a parent displays parental alienation when they try to turn the child against the other parent. Using a child as a means to hurt the other parent is considered a form of abuse by some child advocates and has detrimental consequences for the child. One common strategy to minimize the effects of divorce on the child is to utilize divorce education programs. In these programs, parents are taught how to minimize conflict and learn to cooperatively co-parent (Mooney, et al, 2009, p.