One in ten married couples are staying together ‘just for the kids’.
That’s the sad finding of a recent report carried out on behalf of UK break-up and bereavement support website Healbee, who commissioned the study after experiencing a 40% rise in visitors.
They found that one in every ten couples surveyed stayed together and played happy families for the sake of young children, but already planned to go their separate ways as soon as they felt their children were old enough to deal with the fallout.
The shocking results come at a time when the number of couples filing for divorce rises, as the strain of having spent the summer together as a family becomes too much.
A spokesperson from Healbee said:
”What we are most surprised at is that it would seem that many parents feel compelled to stick together with a disregard for their own happiness, or without fully considering the effect on children growing up in a household where there is animosity.
”Aside from the very real possibility of children blaming themselves for their parents’ unhappiness should they choose to stay together, but then separate when they’re older, these children might also follow their parents’ patterns in their own relationships.
Unhappy families: As many as one in ten couples are staying together just for their children
The study, carried out among 2,000 couples, found that while 83% of couples felt they ‘made more effort’ with each other while the kids were home, only 5% said that they had now resolved their issues.
It also emerged six out of ten of those who are staying together because of the children want to wait until their kids are at least 18 years of age, often preferring to wait until their child is settled at university, before planning for life apart.
While it’s entirely understandable that parents would feel they are doing the best thing for the children at the time, in hindsight it seems many would feel different. According to a Healbee spokesperson: ”Our research has shown that of those parents who had separated, 75% said that they now regretted staying in their relationship for their children and that nearly 90% of separated parents now admitted that they would have left earlier if they received more support’.”
