Laws Restricting and For Children

The latest scandal involving the divorce and child custody litigation between Alec Baldwin and Kim Bassinger has sparked controversy, debate and discussion about the social war of mother v. father in divorce. Often times, the parents are squabbling over custody to the point where they inadvertently alienate their children from the other parent. The parents in these situations are generally acting in a more childish way than their children and the inability to look past their own issues with each other ends up doing permanent emotional damage to their children.

A side issue going on in situations such as the one going on between Baldwin and Bassinger is whether adolescents and children in today's modern age are able to make decisions about their living arrangements in divorce, and whether they are capable of knowing what is in their best interests. Children these days are less independent than even kids growing up 20 or 30 years ago and may not be capable of making adult decisions until they are well into their twenties. I read an interesting article at americanthinker.com that discusses this issue in a more abstract way. The article below discusses whether the laws that we have created to protect and restrict teenagers actually works to their disadvantage. Its interest and a different way of looking at the age old question of whether teenagers should be treated as adults.

http://www.americanthinker.com/2007/05/scarred_for_life.html