Lesson 6

                             How It Feels When Parents Divorce

             Text A

Ari, age fourteen
    When my parents were married, I hardly ever saw my Dad
becausc he was always busy working. Now that they're divorced , I've gotten to know him more because I'm with him everu weckend. And I really look forward to the weekends because it's kind of like a break-it's like going to Disncyland because thcre's no set schedule, no "Be home by five-thirty" kind of stuff. It's open. It's free. And my father is always buying me presents.

    My Mom got remarried and divorced again, so I've gone through two divorces so far. And my father's also gotten remarricd-to someone I don't get along with all that well. It's all rnade me fcel that people shouldn't get married-they should just livc together and make their own agreement. Then, if things get bad , they don't have to get divorced and hire lawyers and sue each other. And. even more important, they don't have to end up hating each other.

    I'd say that the worst part of the divorce is the money problem. It's been hard on mv Mom because lots of times she can't pay her bills, and it makes her angry when I stay with my fatherand he buys me things. She gets mad and says things like "If he can buy you things like this , then he should be able to pay me. " And I feel caught in the middle for two reasons;

first, I can't really enjoy whatever my Dad does get for me, and second, I don't know who to believe. My Dad's saying, "I don't really owe her any money," and my Mom's saying he does. Sometimes I fight for my Mom and sometimes I fight for my Dad, but I wish they'd leave me out of it completely.

    In a lot of ways I wish my Mom would get remarried, because then she wouldn't have to worry so much about finances. But I'm sorry that my Dad got remarried, because I feel left out a lot of times. And one thing I really worry about is that I think they want to have a baby, and I know that if they do, it will be just like a replacement for me.

That's because I only see my Dad on weekends, and since he would see the baby more than he'd see me, he'd probably grow to like it more than he likes me. It could be a lot like what happened with my dog Spunkur.

I've had him for about six years and I've always said I'll never love any dog as much as I love him. Well, a year ago I picked up a little black Labrador puppy from the pound, and now I find I'm not as friendly with Spunkur as I used to be. And I think Spunkur feels jealous , just like I would if my Dad and my stepmother had a baby.

 My Dad said it wouldn't be that way, that we'd be a whole family and I'd have a little brother or sister, which would be a lot of fun, but I told him, "Look, by the time the kid is old ehougli to talk, I'll be out of college. I'm not going to have anything to do with a baby. You know that it's just a replacement for me ! "

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