Looking back on my childhood, I can’t remember a time when my parents were married. Instead, I see myself packing an overnight bag and going on car rides back and forth between my parents. At the young age of four, I didn’t understand the concept of divorce or even marriage, but I knew that my family wasn’t like any of my school friends. My parents didn’t live in the same house or kiss each other goodbye when they went to work. As I grew up, I started to comprehend the reason behind my parent’s separation and see both the good and the bad that has come from their divorce.

Coping with the stress and confusion of separation will scramble up your thoughts like the eggs you had this morning. Every day, you mull over ideas of how to get your parents back together and reasons of why they are even apart. As these race through your mind, one crazy thought that is bound to come to you is that your parents don’t love you the same anymore. You tell yourself that because your parents can’t stand each other, they actually care less about the baby they made: you. Don’t believe any of that. The truth is that although the relationships you have with your parents will change, the love that they have for their children will remain. This will be proven to you throughout the years as they battle for your attention and your love, which comes to my next point.

Competition between your mom and dad is more than likely to occur. You’re going to see this through the most pointless fights, as well as more serious problems that you don’t even want to get into. One day you’ll just wake up with eight out-of-the-blue messages from your mother saying that she wants to confirm that you’ll be at her house for Thanksgiving six months in advance. The best way to deal with this is to not get too involved, offended, or sensitive. In the unfortunate situation that your parents talk negatively about one another, don’t get drawn into it. By not letting your parents' words affect you, you are remaining impartial to the situation, which will allow your parents to figure out their problems themselves. Though its hard to not come to the defense of one of your parents, it will make your life easier and happier when they know that coming to you with their problems is not an option.

Along with these downsides, there are the upsides. Going through a family divorce is a bonding moment for you to connect to your mom, your dad, and your siblings. They all know what you are going through, and they are experiencing similar feelings to your own. By confiding in them, you are not only getting out there how you feel about the situation, but you are connecting to their thoughts individually in a way that wouldn’t have been possible before. Through your support for each other, the love that you thought went missing after your parents separated will appear all around you.

On the outside, it may seem like there are a lot of troubles in the lives of children going through a divorce, and sometimes there are. But what we all need to remember is that everything we go through will make us stronger individuals. One day, you’ll realize that your parents are happier being separated and that, in the end, was all you really wanted.