Detailed Outline

Topic: divorce on children


I. Introduction:
a. Attention-getter: After divorce, the stages of grief that a child experiences is nothing compared to the unresolved issues that will later develop in their young adult lives. Most of the raising issues tend to relate to serious relationships, especially ones pertaining to marriage.
b. Thesis: Divorce can be a catastrophe that effects more than just the husband and wife. A healthy or unhealthy divorce can have a serious impact on the family members involved, especially children. The emotional results of divorce affect more than one million children a year, all which lead to negatively affecting their future relationships and lifestyles.
II. Breaking the News
a. Initial reactions
i. Denial
ii. Abandonment
iii. Anger
iv. Depression
v. Immaturity
b. Financially
c. Environment
i. Living area
ii. School
III. Types of Children
a. Age
i. Infant
ii. Child
iii. Adolescent
iv. Teenager
b. Gender
i. Male
ii. Female
IV. Parent-child relationship
a. Parent Involvement
b. Parenting skills
c. Differentiate child’s needs
d. Communication
e. Single versus Married parents
V. Good affects of Divorce
a. Avoid Everyday Conflicts
b. Staying together versus divorce
VI. Long Term Outcomes
a. “Sleeper Effect”
b. Quality of life
c. Predicting them from short term responses
d. Exposed to sex and marriage earlier
e. Less Successful
VII. Future Relationships
a. Social relationships
b. Fear of failed marriage
VIII. How to help
a. Minimizing conflict
b. Living Arrangements
c. Daily Life
d. Counseling
IX. Conclusion: Divorce is not an act that parents can prevent but instead they can handle it in a better manner for the people indirectly and directly involved. Uninformed parents need to realize the emotional rollercoaster they are putting their children through and they need to take steps to understand the extent of this. The answer is for parents to be able to communicate with their child and know how to talk to them. Divorce affects children in an immediate sense but the children will be more distraught in their later lives if their parents do not handle their issues from the beginning.