Argumentative Essay

TOPIC: Should teenaged children of divorced parents have the right to decide which parent to live with?

Nowadays we come across more and more cases where married couples with children are getting divorced. These children unfortunately, have to deal with their parents who compete with each other for the custody of their kids. This unhappy situation creates to the children and especially to teenagers various problems not only at home but also at school. Nevertheless, adolescents are the only suitable to decide for their lives, to decide which parent to live with.

When a couple starts facing problems in their marriage, then a battle also starts between them with negative consequences on their children. It is a battle concerning very simple things like for example the household chores or more complicated things like the custody of their kids. The parents filled with anger are interested only in their each other conflicts and how they will put the other parent at a disadvantage and very soon they loose any kind of interest and ignore the problems and the possible effects of the whole situation on their own children. At this point the children start feeling as the trophy of the conflict, a feeling that may cause great emotional distress.

All this custody battle provokes serious behavior problems on the children not only at home but also at school. When they are at home the effects are very obvious. They stop having communication with their parents and they are always isolated. At school, their performance declines and their behavior becomes unsocial against everyone. Many researches have found that children of divorce tend to end their educations earlier than children of intact two-parent families. They usually cannot communicate with their classmates as well as with their teachers. In serious situations, the children are found involved in drug and alcohol addiction.

The decision for the custody of