Divorce The dissolution of a marriage is a legal act that may not coincide with the emotional tearing asunder. Divorce is typically a painful process for all concerned. While it can take adults time to regain psychological equilibrium, there is debate whether children ever recover a stable perspective. Post-divorce hostility between adults, in addition to directly harming kids, is a sure indicator that the emotional split is incomplete In the U.S., divorce rates have been rising since the beginning of the 20th century, and especially since the 1970s, when no-fault divorce was instituted. Some experts contend that the easing of divorce laws has helped make marriage stronger by rooting it more deeply in personal choice, although it does little to give people the skills needed to work out the inevitable difficulties that arise in marriage. ByTrent Toone, Mormon Times May 11, 2011 Apparently, Marie Osmond ’s first husband never got over her. “He got all the kids around, got on his knee and said he always loved me,” Osmond said in an ABC TV report. “You know he never remarried. I’m just a tough habit to break.” Osmond, 51, remarried her first husband, Stephen Craig, 54, last week in the Las Vegas Nevada Temple. Many media outlets reported similar details regarding the special day. Osmond also wore the same white wedding dressshe wore for their original marriage in 1982, as shown in these photos on People magazine's website. Osmond and Craig had one son, Stephen, before they divorced after three years. Osmond cited “mental cruelty” in the legal documentation, according to TMZ. Osmond was married to her second husband, music producer Brian Blosil, from 1986 to 2007. Osmond and Blosil had two biological children and adopted five others. Despite the divorce, Osmond and Craig remained friendly in the decades following the separation. Craig, a former BYU basketball player, helped Osmond cope with the suicide of her son, Michael Blosil, in 2010, according to this article. A video, MormonVidz.com video, spotlights Osmond and Craig when they were young parents. An ABC report talks about the secrecy surrounding the wedding. Osmond didn’t notify family until three days before the wedding. Her famous sibling Donny was able to make it. Donny Osmond described the wedding ceremony as a “special moment.” The two witnesses in the Las Vegas Nevada Temple sealing room were Craig’s brother and Stephen, their son. Donny Osmond said the family was happy to see the two get back together. “I think Steve has always been there in Marie’s life because of Stephen (their son). And I have always gotten along well with him,” Donny Osmond told ABC. “And over time, almost 30 years, they decided you know, ‘We still love each other and it’s time to get back together again.’ It just felt right.” Copyright Deseret News | Honey, Let's Get Divorced By Hara Estroff Marano, published on March 01, 1998 Trick question: Is divorce good or bad for children? Answer: It depends onwhat happened in themarriage be fore the divorce. "If there has been lots of conflict in the marriage, the children actually do better if there is a divorce, reports University of Nebraska sociologist Paul Amato, Ph.D., who has followed 2,000 families for nearly two decades. He has seen the offspring of these families into their own young adulthood, and found that the kids of high-conflict divorce are just as happy and do just as well as peers who grew up In intact homes. Those hardest hit by divorce, he says, are the chidren of marriages in which there were not high levels of hostility before a break-up. The husband and wife just drift along and the kids don't notice anything's missing. "The dissolution of a home that they thought was stable is an unwelcome and disturbing event in the lives of these offspring," Amato reports in A Generation at Risk (Harvard). Low -conflict divorce under mines kids' sense of trust and causes them great psychological distress as they grow grower, says Amato. They have trouble forming relationships of their own, and are "particularly unhappy' as adults. Making the leap out of a stressful household beats being jolted out of a pleasant one. Additional Reading: http://extension.unh.edu/Family/Documents/divorce.pdf http://www.aacap.org/cs/root/facts_for_families/children_and_divorce http://cpancf.com/articles_files/efffectsdivorceonchildren.asp |