“Does Divorce Have Long-Term Damaging Effects on Children?” Ever since the divorce process became more attainable and faster, many couples have began to embrace this change, which has lead to increasing divorce rates. In this reading, the effects of divorce on children were examined. While Constance Ahron defends that divorce does not necessarily ruin families with evidence from her research on children with divorced parents, Elizabeth Marquardt disagrees with Ahron’s thesis. Ahron’s essay thoroughly examines the most common misconceptions about divorce and presents evidence to disprove these misconceptions. Although Marquardt’s argument is valid, her essay is more focused on rebutting Ahron’s points than on supporting her argument against …show more content…
Marquardt does not think that Ahron’s studies are convincing. She states that he results of a study depend on the way the questions are worded and interpreted. For example, according to Ahron’s studies, over one-third of the children from divorced families that she interviewed did not wish that their parents were still together. Marquardt, who also grew up in a divorced family, believes that anyone who went through the pain and life changes after his or her parents’ divorce will not remember the happy memories about their marriage. The unhappy memories will result in their not wanting their parents to be together. To me, Marquardt’s negative view about marriage seems to stem from her negative experience with her parent’s divorce. One of her points is about how children quickly learn that complaining will cause them to be ignored. A strong and supporting child receive praise from his parents. Although this is true in some cases, it does not apply to all situations. Rather than keeping their thoughts and frustration bottled up, many children do convey their thoughts to their parents. If a child is unhappy or unsatisfied that his mom or dad is remarrying, he has the right complain to them. In many cases, the parents will explain to him why a new marriage is better than being with each other. Divorce does not necessarily force the child to be independent or grow up more quickly than their friends. Marquardt grew up with her mother while her father lived hours away. Her mother was stressed from being a single parent, so Marquardt assumed that it was her own fault. She states that there is a “demand [for] children of divorce [to] keep quiet,” but I do not believe that there is such a demand. This is dependent on the parents. If the child’s parents cooperate effectively to ensure that their divorce does not stress or harm their child, then the child will not feel like he is at