Hays High School's Official Student Newspaper

The Guidon Online

Hays High School's Official Student Newspaper

The Guidon Online

Hays High School's Official Student Newspaper

The Guidon Online

Divorce causes pain to family

Divorce causes pain to family

Concentration is never possible, the teenage boy thought as he buried his head in his hands while listening to his parents start up the same old argument once again.  But this time, the argument had a different ending.

“That’s it.  I’m done.  This is over,” were the last words heard before the slam of the door.

Arguments like these often result in parents giving up on their marriages and filing for divorce, which has caused much pain and tragedy for millions of families around the world.

In fact, 40 to 50 percent of all first-time marriages in the United States end in divorce, according to divorcerate.org.  Sixty-seven percent of second-time marriages end in divorce, and 74 percent of third-time marriages end in divorce.

Sophomore Jenna Weiser shared her experiences with divorce.

“My parents divorced when I was very young, shortly after I was born,” Weiser said. “That still didn’t make the situation any less hard on me.  My parents don’t talk much, and it’s just stressful on me since they don’t get along.”

One major conflict in divorce is deciding who gets what of the couple’s belongings and possessions. Some of the biggest fights are over children.

“My mom got me, and my dad took my older brothers, Casey and Cole,” Weiser said.  “It was hard because I wasn’t able to see them as much as I did before. It was a major change coming home every day and they’re not there to talk to. I am very close to my brother Casey, and even though we’re two hours apart we are still as close as we were before.”

However, many courts decide that the children do need to visit both of their parents at some point, no matter who they end up residing with.

“The courts decided for me to visit my dad every other weekend, which was a major change and was hard to do at first” Weiser said.  “We meet in Great Bend because he lives in Hutchinson and I live in Hays and so it’s just kind of halfway. And my brothers come to visit my mom every so often, too.”

For some children and teens, the idea of divorce is hard to grasp, and it’s hard to understand why your parents don’t want to be together any longer.

“The whole concept is strange,” Weiser said. “When I was younger I really didn’t understand at all.  I just always hoped that my parents would someday realize what they did and get back together again. But they never did.”

Something else that may be hard to understand is the fact of having a “new” mom or dad— your “step” parents.

“My dad has been remarried for a while now, and my mom is getting remarried in June of next year,” Weiser said. “I’m not really a fan of my stepmom, however.  She can be really rude to my brothers and me. She doesn’t treat us anything close to the same way she treats her own kids. It’s always going to be very hard to get along with her.”

One other problem some teens face is being asked who the “favorite” parent is now that they aren’t together anymore.

“I don’t really have a “favorite” parent,” Weiser said. “I do like living with my mom, but I always wonder what it would have been like to live with me dad.  I do miss my dad, but I get to see him every other weekend which is okay. I love both of my parents the same and I don’t know what I would do without either of them, even though they don’t love each other.”

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