Kelsey Chapman

Extra Credit Option #2

Article
The article I selected discussed the dilemmas amongst parenthood, dealing with
children that parents are divorce or going through a difficult time. It focuses on the issues
that arise after a child is separated or removed from a parent due to martial dissolution or
nonformation. Parents tend to strive to be in a perfect or ideal marriage and then when it
does not end up the way they intended it to, the whole relationship between the families
decreases and has a negative effect on the children. Children refuse to blame their
parents for the failed marriage or difficulties within the home. They tend to put the blame
on themselves and sometimes this results in the child acting out at school or in other
environments that theyre apart of. Each child can deal with the issue differently, but not
every child has the strength to be fine with the situation among their parents or what is
going on at home. As a society, we see this all the time, where broken homes have cause
children to become in trouble with the law or even being involve in delinquent behaviors.
The strengths within this article are the different types of factors that might cause
children to act out after dealing with a divorce or a significant event. The article looks at
the many factors that can be a result of a child getting into trouble, it focuses on the
home-life and if there are two parents involved or a single-parent household. It not only
gears towards the divorce children but always children with parents that were never
together and only have one guardian. There are weaknesses within this article as well, it
refuses to discuss the aspect of children acting out due to other factors and not just the
home-life or if the child only has one parent or not. It does not talk about the
environment that the child comes from and even if the parents are together or not, what

type of community are they living in. How does their behavior effect their work or
interactions with other children? The major issue that individuals fail to focus on is all
factors leading up to children to act out or become in trouble with the law. We try to put
the emphasis on the parents and what is being done inside of the home. I believe it stems
from the home-life and how a child behaves, but is that the only factor that causes a child
to act out. I think more research needs to be done to see what other factors can cause
children to act this way, because not all divorce children or single-home families have
children that act this particular way.
This topic is important, not only to families dealing with divorce or separation but
for people to see that this is not the only factor causing children to act out. This does
show us how some children behave and why they might deal with certain situations. We
did talk about in class how our personality is defined and where have we learned to be
this way. This has a lot to do with what we were taught and how we react to certain
issues that we come across in our life.

Referenes
Wardle, Lynn D. "Dilemmas Of Indissoluble Parenthood: Legal Incentives, Parenting,
And The Work-Family Balance." BYU Journal Of Public Law 26.2 (2012): 265309. OmniFile Full Text Select (H.W. Wilson). Web. 4 Feb. 2014.