They don’t think of their parents as husband and wife, but as mom and dad. Mom and dad might be “happier” after a divorce (though that’s often not the case) but their children aren’t; they usually feel that the bottom has dropped from their worlds. They are confused, angry, and anxious. Many of them grieve as if one of their parents had died. In 99 percent of the cases that I have seen, there is no question that children are happier with two unhappy married parents than they are with a family divided by divorce. Children want to be—and rightfully are—focused on their own happiness, not that of
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