The divorce case between Meru Senator Mithika Linturi and Marianne Kitany has brought to the fore the impact of dissolving a marriage.
Kenyans have been keenly following the unfolding events more so because the couple’s romantic and financial dealings have been laid bare.
Often, it is assumed that a divorce case would be reasonable to minimise emotional stress on the couple and the children but this is usually not the case.
Children will feel like they are partly to blame for the divorce and will be wondering what they did wrong to make their parents split.
More often than not, a couple would attack each other as they go through the process and cause an even bigger problem for children and themselves.
A couple will usually get frustrated because one has been pursuing while the other has been withdrawing and then it gets to a point they start to attack each other.
It is usually lighter to the person who has asked for it but it does not mean that the other person is not wounded.
All in all, divorce introduces massive changes in the life of the children no matter their age.
Teenagers are looking for identity and when their parents split they will not know what to tell their friends. They wonder how they will tell their story without being blamed. It can also affect their future when they grow up because they might fear getting married.
Witnessing loss of love between parents, adjusting to going back and forth between two different households and the daily absence of one parent while living with the other could have a toll on the kids.
Overall, divorce may make children perform poorly in school, lose interest in social activities, increase their emotional sensitivity and irritability and feeling of guilt.
Divorce also introduces a massive change and a couple often experiences decreased levels of happiness, change in economic status and emotional problems.
Nicoletta Muigai, a marriage counsellor at Kenya Marriage Counseling and Family Therapists, spoke to the Star
