Celebrating 35 Years
Children of Divorce A New Day Television Special EVERY MONDAY IN MAY 2008 Have you ever tried to see divorce through the eyes of a child? How many of their seven basic needs go unmet (as the child sees it)? NEWS RELEASE FROM NEW DAY: CHILDREN OF DIVORCE Have you ever tried to see divorce through the eyes of a child? There is no way that one could measure the impact that such a trauma makes upon a child’s life. Childhood development is altered, basic needs go unmet, and a period of grief that can become overwhelming to the child creates emotional damage that will affect the child’s future relationships. The The program will focus on three areas of a child’s life that will feel the effect of such a traumatic experience as that of breaking up the home. Erick Erickson’s life cycle theory will be considered when we see what can happen to alter the child’s personality development. Abraham Maslow suggested that every human being has seven basic needs—time will be given to explaining how a child views the meeting of these needs (or not) when the structure of the home is altered. Grief is not about death, but it is about loss. We will consider the losses faced by a child that causes the pain of immeasurable grief for a child when divorce happens to the home. The purpose of the program is not to suggest that parents should never divorce. The fact is that a dysfunctional home life can cause much of the same struggles as that of a divorce. Our goal is to challenge adults to consider what a child is going through and find ways to help their child cope with the trauma of divorce. This program will benefit parents, grandparents, teachers, and children’s workers. It is meant to be a program for adults and is not recommended for children.
What happens to their personality development?
Grief is not about death—it is about loss. Can you list the losses that a child faces when parents are divorced?
SPEAKER: Rev. David C. Hammerle, M.A., M.Ed., DAPA, Director of Counseling Services for