Consequences of Divorce for Children

Divorce is when a married couple decided to separate ways and they no longer want to be married to each other. It is never easy for a husband and wife to end their marriage. There are certain reasons why they resort to divorce to resolve any issues between the two parties.

I remember watching a certain movie which shows one of the consequences that divorce can bring. The title of the movie is “Catch Me If You Can”, a movie starred by Leonardo DiCaprio from the year 2002. The plot of the movie is that a teenager named Frank, had a beautiful family, but his father had problems with the IRS and became broke. They moved to a small apartment to settle in and there, Frank discovered that his mother was having an affair with his father’s friend. Frank’s parents decided to get a divorce. Frank run away from his parents and became a hustler. What he did is he impersonates an airline pilot at a certain airline and forges the airline’s payroll checks which later on amounted to millions of dollars. After his long run of forging documents, checks, and profession, the FBI still caught him.

You can see in the example above, divorce made Frank do something that is not right. This is one effect that divorce can bring. Divorce can bring emotional stress and trauma to certain individuals. Here are the other consequences of divorce especially on kids:

1. Mental health problems. Anxiety might kick in due to the emotional stress due to divorce. This can cause depression to the affected individuals.
2. Behavioral problems. Since the essence of the family is now absent, guidance is lacking. The behavior of the children is affected.
3. Poor academic performance. This is caused by the lack of focus due to the family problems that are on the environment. Children tends to overthink what will happen to them once their parents go on divorce, that is why they can’t weigh what should they prioritize, hence the academic performance becomes poor.
4. Risk-Taking Behaviors. Since there is a lacking of guidance. The risk-taking decisions of the children are affected. Just like what Frank did in the example above. 

If we knew someone whose parents just got divorced, do not tease them. Instead, help them conquer the problem and help them adjust to the new environment. Guidance is one important key to ensure that the child will be on the right track.

And for parents, consult a Brisbane divorce lawyer to guide you on your children's arrangement and how to avoid emotional stress to kids.