Student Reflections on Their Parents’ Divorces

Did you know that over half of all marriages end in divorce? 40% of these divorced couples have children. While the parents splitting up might not think much of it, divorce has a huge and potentially traumatic impact on most children’s development. It might seem better to split up an unhealthy marriage instead of forcing a child to live in an unhealthy household, but children that experience their parents splitting up are three times more likely to require counseling for over a year according to research published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. I have gathered statements from four high school/college students and asked them to answer:

-When did your parents split up? Would you have rather them have split up earlier or later?

-Which parent did you end up living with more? Are you happy with this?

-How did your parent splitting up affect your schooling experience?”

Brooke Peterson – College Freshman

-“My parents split up when I was in second grade. I definitely would rather them have divorced earlier because then maybe I wouldn’t have remembered them splitting.”

-“I was split between both parents for a long time with a strict schedule based off of my dad’s fireman hours. I wasn’t happy with this toss around because I wanted to live with my mom full time.”

-“My parents splitting up affected my school life completely when they first split. In third grade I had to move schools to accommodate for my parents’ split incomes and their inability to make decisions together due to them fighting. I moved back to my old school the next year but it made me miss a lot.”

Riff Talsma – College Freshman

-“My parents decided on getting a divorce I think my junior or senior year, however they haven’t started the divorce process yet because they are waiting for my sister to get through high school. I think this was a ‘fine’ time for them to decide on getting a divorce, but still living in the same house makes me feel like they’re awkward especially since my dad has moved on already.”

– “Haven’t moved houses.”

-“Not at all, still went to the same high school when they decided they should get divorced, still going to Waubonsee.”

Sam O’Neal – High School Junior

-“My parents got divorced when I was 3 I think, and I think this was a good time for them to split because although it was really jarring and hard to get used to, I don’t really remember anything plus parents who aren’t divorced who should be are not good.”

-“I ended up living with my mom more because it was strange adapting to my dad moving on sooner than my mom, in my head perceived timeline. I also villainized my dad even though he didn’t want the divorce and I still feel kinda bad about it.”

-“It mostly affected my schooling by just moving whenever I was young which doesn’t matter but I mean it was hard adapting to my stepmom and stuff and not wanting to disappoint people.”

Antonio Romo – College Freshman

-“Mine split up after 2nd grade, very random to me and I never knew they even got a divorce, I just ended up living in a different house without my dad and I never asked, I just pieced it together; I do prefer earlier than later since I was still a kid.”

-“I lived with both of them fairly equally by now so I have and had lesser issues as I got older since they were acknowledging my maturity, but feel as though they certainly had issues individually as far as parenting as I was beginning to grow up.”

-“Since I moved in with my mom first I moved to Yorkville instead of staying in Lockport until high school where I had to move in with my dad at that point, and it damaged my schooling experience severely since I was separated from my friends but I at least learned how to deal with that feeling of loneliness.”