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Chapter 4 Kids in Crisis
The most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their
mother.
—The Reverend Theodore Hesburgh
The number of children involved in divorce has tripled in three
decades. More than a million children are now affected by a
divorce each year. Twenty-eight percent of kids under eighteen
now live with only one parent—this compared to only 12 percent
as recently as 1970. Recent estimates suggest that over half of all
children being born today can expect to experience some aspect
of marital disruption, either because their parents will divorce—
or will never marry.
Compare this with prior generations. In 1900, about 22 percent
of all children would experience the death of a parent during