Analysis Of Helping Children Survive Divorce By Archibald Hart

Within his book Helping Children Survive Divorce: What to Expect, How to Help, Archibald Hart (1996) offers parents and caregivers practical suggestions for preventing psychological and social damage that children often encounter as a result of parental divorce. While his credentials as a noted author, speaker, and family therapist draw people to reading this book, Hart’s personal experience as a child of divorce provides his greatest authority in offering useful information on this topic. Hart’s premise is that parents need to realize that children are unwilling and voiceless participants in the breaking up of their families; therefore, fathers and mothers must prioritize finding ways to cushion children as much as humanly possible from

As an example, the biblical account of King David’s family demonstrates the extreme pain children experience as a result of the sinful choices of a parent. If David had read Hart’s book, he would have received some helpful information about the emotional and social difficulties commonly experienced by children placed in broken families, and he could have learned how to be a better single parent and watch for the pitfalls that can accompany blended families. On the other hand, Hart’s minimal treatment of the foundational problem of unrepentant sin within the parents’ lives would have provided little help to David’s initial problem and greater insight onto why his children are reacting in sinful ways. While I understand that Hart’s (1996) purpose in writing this book was to help parents know how to handle children during divorce situations, expanding his chapter on “The Damaging Effects of Divorce” (p. 13-29) to develop the reader’s understanding on the problem of sin that leads to divorce might allow for children to avoid being a child trying to survive