Should kids be able to decide which parent to live with in a divorce?
Good lord, absolutely not. I love Canada, but kids getting involved in custody decisions is really bad news. I didn’t believe this when I was divorcing my kids’ abusive mother and lawyers all told me – like 6 of them – not to waste money listening to kids and fighting for custody. Mind you, part of that is the favoritism of the courts toward moms, but part of it is that kids change their minds. Particularly teenaged kids. Who are incredibly manipulative of parents (no offense, we parents were the same at that age) and who often make decisions about which parent they prefer based on things like which house they like better, who buys them more stuff (whether or not they can afford it), and which one lets them get away with stuff they shouldn’t get away with, whether it’s not doing chores and homework, or not drinking and drugging and having sex. My kids went with the parent they could stay high with. They also change their minds a lot, which is a pain for parents and courts. It takes a f
