LETTERS: FATHERS MORE ACTIVE IN PARENTING

To the editor:

Divorce is not child abuse. Sometimes divorce is conceived in the best interest of the children.

Some may ask how the splitting up of two parents can be in the best interest of children. In some cases, a parent may be unwilling to take care of the children. Sometimes one of the parents is abusive. And it's never good for children to see and hear their parents fighting.

I will admit that sometimes people take the easy road out and get divorced for reasons they could have worked out either by counseling or through the church. Maybe instead of judges taking such a passive role in all of this, they could order the two parties to try to work out their differences before they grant the divorce. Anything should be tried if it's in the best interest of the children.

In my own viewpoint, divorce is too easy, especially on the woman's side. She knows that it is almost impossible for her to lose her children. There are no guidelines for any determination of who is the better parent or can provide a better home. And child-support laws are archaic. More and more fathers are taking more interest in their child's life. I realize this doesn't make up for generations of passive parenting, but it's a start and, as with anything, it will take time.

No father should have to pay 60 percent of his take-home pay just to get to see his children four to six days a month and a few weeks in the summer. This just destroys all of the few parenting skills we fathers have learned.

TROY D. GLAUS

Scott City