Telegraph (UK) 16 July 2012
…As a doctor, I am sick of seeing the emotional fall-out of feuding parents, the children being innocent conduits for their bitterness and resentments. I accept that sometimes relationships don’t work out. People change. Their circumstances and their responses to them change, too. I also accept that it is far better for children to be brought up by separated parents than to have to endure a tempestuous home life in the presence of both. The steady creep of family discord, of parent pitched against parent, can have devastating effects on youngsters. Even so, the potential for damage in acrimonious divorces is considerable.
It is not just the process of divorce that impacts so negatively. The post-divorce period, when parents are attempting to assemble a new life for themselves, is no less fraught or stressful and may have long-term consequences.
It seems that once divorced, people have a capacity to act with myopic selfishness. ”I’ve given the best years of my life to my kids, now it’s my time,’’ is the mantra, as they scour singles bars and internet dating sites for someone to make them feel better about themselves.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/children_shealth/9400670/A-child-is-for-life-not-just-for-a-few-years.html
