The Negative Effects Of Divorce: My Family And The Family

I never grew up in a house with a mom and dad and the same friends. My parents divorced when I was five years old. Two homes, two separate lives, and both were completely different experiences. At one home I was happy, I had friends and a dog. The other house it was just my father and I, no friends or contact with the outside world. Growing up as a child of divorce many things have left lasting effects on me such as issues with myself, problems between my father and I, and the separation of myself and my paternal family. When I was five my parents divorced and my life was forever changed. I began having to follow a visitation schedule between my parents. Every Tuesday and Thursday I would visit my father for a few hours and then every other weekend I was forced to stay at his home beginning on Friday evening into …show more content…
One time in particular I remember him pointing out a woman saying, “Doesn’t she walk funny? It’s because she is fat and you 're going to end up just like her if you keep eating donuts.” I’ve been told by him that I stand weird, that I am going to end up hunchbacked, and repeatedly that I am overweight. Sadly research has proven that “parents who are critical and unsupportive… can have a negative impact on their children’s beliefs about themselves.” (Michael 18). His comments have stuck with me for years and they probably will stay with me.
For many years I had to be careful about what I would say around my father’s family. Anything could be taken wrongly out of context and used against me. Many of my problems were between my biological grandmother who I saw maybe once a year. She would treat me better than my father but whenever my maternal family was brought up in conversation things would become sour. She would deny my father’s fits of rage although she had been around him when a few had happen. She was always protecting her son no matter what. As I had gotten older I grew as far apart from her as I