Controlling the Divorce Epidemic
Controlling the Divorce EpidemicFrom an early age, most American girls aspire to get married and begin a family. Although that dream is easy to achieve, more than likely it will be shattered. Marriage is the legal and binding union between a man and woman. Yet when couples marry, they vow to stay by their partner’s side ‘till death do us part.’ Currently that vow seems to have little or no value in today’s society. “The current statistics for survival of marriage are quite grim. The divorce rate in the United States is somewhere between 50 percent and a startling 67%” (Gottman 2). I believe that a major contributor to the moral and social decay within American society is the breakup of the family unit.
Divorce can lead to negative consequences for the emotional and mental well being of an individual. Research evidence has shown that marital distress and conflict within a marriage causes a wide range of negative effects on the children of the feuding spouses (Gottman 4). “Such effects include depression, withdrawal, poor social competence, various health problems, and poor academic performance” (Gottman 4). American couples seem to conclude that nullifying the marriage through divorce would solve the problems between the couple more readily than seeking advice, counseling and treatment from a marriage counselor.
What they forget to consider is the children’s welfare. No one can argue that the consequences of growing up in a violent and unloving family setting is far more harmful than a permanent separation of their parents. Even though, the parents become selfish in attempting to satisfy their own needs in the marriage. They lack to realize that most common marital differences are easily resolved.
My proposal to regulate and minimize the amount of divorces is to immediately benefit the children. The general assumption “that happy marriages produce happy children and unhappy marriages unhappy, neurotic children” is more than likely true (Bergler 156). Children learn from their parents because they are the ones the children grow up looking up to and the parents become the child’s’ number one role model.
Parents become models for crucial aspects of life. Ones work ethic, intimate relationships, friendships, domestic skills, communication, and problem-solving skills are all learned from ones parents. Lessons about life are being taught when a parent has an affair, or when parents constantly argue or become violent towards each other. It is ironic how most American parents are quick to blame the media for impregnating the minds of children with hate, violence and low moral standards (Cherlin 104). However it is actually what they themselves show their children at home and more preciously influences the way they are, or what kind of a wife or husband they might become.
With these facts in mind, one might wonder why divorce is seen as such an unfortunate alternative; nevertheless it is the decision that most couples decide on taking without hesitation.
In the case of...
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