As much as I hate glossy gossip magazines, I always find myself checking out the headlines on the front page.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
But this past week I stood waiting for my turn at the cash register, milk and cheese in hand, and felt so sad to see splashed across the cover “Brad wins”.
The story was about the custody battle between Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie over their children.
Now I doubt very much of it was based on anything factual.
It seems factuality is not a must for the majority of these stories.
Divorce has unfortunately become part of our society.
As a kid, I can’t remember anyone at school having divorced parents, but these day, the statistics say one in three couples break up.
It’s not an easy process, and I know, I have walked the divorce path.
Now image trying to go through divorce when you are international celebrities.
However, regardless of whether you are the biggest names in Hollywood, or a couple here in Tasmania, the same rules apply when you have children involved.
It’s not a competition.
There should be no winner and no loser, because the moment that happens, the outcome will always be the same.
The children will lose.
The ones who play no part in a marriage breakdown, the ones who are the most innocent, will always become the losers should parents go down the path of trying to outdo or outplay each other.
It’s incredible that you must obtain a legal certificate to get married, but you can have kids without any qualifications or legal requirements whatsoever.
Surely as parents we need to love our children more than we love ourselves; their wellbeing is more important than our own egos.
To see a magazine, read by hundreds of thousands of primarily women, splashing across it pages that one parent has “won” in a custody battle is just horrifying.
Am I expecting too much from the editors of these gossip glossies to see that what they plaster across the front pages can impact on the wellbeing of actual children?
Real kids, trying to live through such a difficult period in their lives.
Divorce is not a game in which children are the pawns.
Pushing through the sadness, frustration or even sometimes betrayal, is surely worth the effort if it means an innocent little person can feel free to love both their parents no matter who’s house they are in.
Brad Pitt has won nothing.
Angelina Jolie has won nothing.
This isn’t a game.
And when it becomes one, children lose.