Divorce: Getting the News
Your parents may have sat you down and told you that they're going to try living in separate houses for a while. Or maybe one of your good friends has been upset lately, and you've heard the rumors about his folks splitting up. Or maybe your mom and dad have just been arguing all the time, and you're afraid that they're on the road to splitting up.
Whether it happens to you or to a friend, the "Big D" is a pretty scary thing. Life is complicated as it is, right? It's natural to think that if your parents get divorced, things will get much worse...and you won't be able to cope.
Jackie is eleven years old, and her folks got divorced three years ago, when she was eight. At the time, she didn't know many kids who had gone through a divorce, and she had no idea how it was going to affect her. In short, she was scared.
Jackie's reaction is completely normal. Most people get frightened or upset when they don't know what the future holds, and divorce is especially hard because it feels like your whole life is turning upside down. Will life ever get back to normal? Will the fear, pain and uncertainty ever go away?
It would be a lie to tell you that things are going to be easy. But if you talk to kids who have gone through divorce, almost all of them will tell you that things seem terrible at the beginning, but they do get better!
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