The Effects Of Divorce On Children s Development

Family is an important structure within society. The word family may be defined in various ways: you may define it as a group of close friends who you genuinely care for and trust, or as a group of people who are related by the blood which runs through their veins. In this country, we see all types of families. The traditional nuclear family consists of – a father, mother, and children. However, currently this is not always the case. Divorce rates have risen over the years, breaking the nuclear family; unfortunately, this event can affect children’s development. Gary Peterson and Kevin Bush mention the conclusion of – children benefiting from two-parent families rather than single-parent families (499). This can be proven when we notice†¦show more content†¦They tend to internalize and sometimes externalize their feelings. Some common immediate reactions are: fear, anger, sadness, fear of abandonment, denial, and imaging reconciliation between parents (M cwhorter 12). An example of this can be found on the first page of the article ‘Preparation and a Gift Help the Transition,’ when it states â€Å"Children often misinterpret and blame themselves for stressful situations.† Divorce can be a very stressful meanwhile young children tend to blame themselves for the whole situation; most of them believe that it’s their fault that their parents were fighting. Of course, this is not true in many divorce cases, yet it is commonly seen because they try to find someone to blame. This can be a way of coping with the idea of their parents divorce. We can study the short terms effects divorce has better when we observe younger children. This term, younger children, can be broken down into two different categories: preschool age, toddlers, and school age.Common short term effect we see in preschool children, are: the tendency to have behavioral and withdrawal problems. For school-age children are frequently seen as hav ing academic problems and experience feelings of fear, worries, sadness, and lost (Clarke-Stewart Brentano 130). There are more differences between the children’s reactions. Preschool children are usually very young and sometimes can’t remember what has happened before the divorce, but