A parent shares the heartache as a child of divorce. Abuse from her mother and neglect by her father have shaped her marriage views and being a parent. While she confesses to preferring  life without either parent, we should be mindful of the difficulty in arriving at a definitive decision.  Parental actions during divorce and custody impact the child and have long-term implications: a heartbreaking experience for anyone to endure.  

We have decades of research revealing how children are impacted in divorce and custody matters.  Educating parents and professionals on the need for shared parenting could have been life-altering for this individual. 

My parents divorced 36 years ago when I was 6. I did not see my father for 32 years due to my mother making contact difficult and moving us hundreds of miles away when she remarried very quickly afterwards. On the other hand, my father did not pay any maintenance or take her to court to enforce contact and he was minted at one time. He brought up someone else’s kids instead.

As a mother myself now, who would never, ever stop my own kids seeing their father if we divorced as I know how much they love him, I think both of them (my parents) are disgusting and I will never have either of them in my life again.

I have had long lasting mental health issues due to my father’s abandonment and my mother’s emotional abuse because I was ‘evil just like your father’. It is the children who suffer for their parent’s selfishness.

#457, My Parent’s Divorce