How divorce affects children
Anuradha Fonseka
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
In Sri Lanka although the
marriage is considered to be a sacred occasion in one’s life, the percentage of
divorces cases are increasing day by day. These phenomenons seem contradictory
yet it is the bitter truth the Sri Lankans have to face. We can scrutinize
different basis for this crisis and also the repercussions.
The divorce they say is
caused as a result of lack of understanding between the husband and wife. Haste
decisions which result in a marriage between two can cause them to be fed up of
each other in no time. Once they fail to understand their other half, they tend
to fall out of each other and it will result in divorce. Let that be the main
reason yet we can identify many other social issues which are responsible for
this. The stress caused by the hectic life led by the competitive economy
results in couples to enjoy their sex lives less and it could ultimately cause
them to be attracted by some other of the different sex.
While the above mentioned
are a few reasons to divorce, let us now pay our attention to the victims of
divorce. According to my perception the major party who suffer inestimably are
the children if the couple who chose to divorce have any. They undergo a great
deal of depression and suffering from the day their parents chose to hate each
other and fall out of love. The researchers have initiated that the
relationship between the parents directly cause the personality of a child.
Thus in this scenario when a child experiences extreme hatred and disagreement
between his parents it could directly affect his own family life in years in
the future and for the while his teachers might recognize him to be a
quarrelsome child with unaccepted behaviour.
The divorce can also
affect the attitude of a child towards his parents. If his parents have any
affair with a third person and if they use harsh words in quarrels, he might
lose the respect, love and gratitude he held so far for the parent might be devastated.
In the future when the parents get old, he may tend not to take care of them as
a result of the lack of love and respect.
Those are some of the
repercussions of divorce which affect the child internally while we can also
identify many aftermath which are caused externally on the child as well. One
of the major nuisances the child may face is the attitude he gets from the
society. Although the attitudes of the society should not be cared by anyone, a
child whose parents are divorced or about to get divorce facing such attitudes
negatively cannot be avoided. People might look at him with sympathy or scorn.
The child might find it difficult to deal with those attitudes of people as
well as his mates. The result of these attitudes might affect the child
depending on the strength he consists in his personality. If he is a small
child he might find it extremely difficult to deal with the society. It might
affect his social life as well as the stability of his mind which will
ultimately affect his personality.
If the child is a girl, it
could affect her worse. When the girl reaches the age of marriage, the divorce
of her parents might affect the acceptance of the groom’s parents to their
marriage. Since Sri Lanka is considered to be country with great cultural
values, they might perhaps dislike the girl because of her family states. It
could affect the entire future of the girl gravely. It can also affect the
social relationships of the girl which might ultimately result in the stability
of her mind.
The above discussed are a
few drops of the sea of repercussions of divorce affected on the children.
Consequently any duo, especially if they have children should rethink of the
divorce and try to minimize the chances of divorce. As a whole everyone who is
about to get married should rethink of their decision for the reason that a
wrong decision can harm the future of an unborn human being.
