Divorce 3
Impacts of Divorce on Children
Another group that usually feels the pinch the most is the affected children. It should be
noted that in most cases children do not have a direct say in the decision-making process
regarding their future after divorce. The events before separation are sometimes very destructive
to children, as they may witness physical fights and use of vulgar language by the parents.
Parents do go out of control and stop being rational hence doing and or saying things that affect
their children's brain development, impair their judgment and stop trusting their parents. As
illustrated by Kalmijn (2015), such events before final termination of marriage mostly affect how
the children reason and behave. In cases of an irresponsible parent, parentified children end up
taking the roles of perceived irresponsible parent, and this may lead to lack of respect to the
parent and the children developing some unacceptable behaviors.
Divorce cases that involve residence challenges may lead to children living with one
parent or a third party such as aunts. Such circumstances can as well result in the children being
separated, the parents or third parties taking some children while other siblings live somewhere
else. Children affected by such situations end up lacking parental love and guidance, a fact that
negatively impacts their confidence as compared to others in school (Amato & Anthony 2014).
They feel they do not have someone to report to when wronged by other children and they lack
someone with whom to share their problems. The change of residence affects the school life as
many children in such condition have to change school and their peers. Different parenting styles
experienced mostly under the third party may cause a lot of damage to the child’s development.
