Ozzie and Harriet families are the minority. The younger ones adjust more quickly . A middle school child, when they learn their parents are getting a divorce, they have a multitude of friends who have been in the process for years. They hear that their parents will probably find a new love. That the new person will move in or, conversely, the family will move in with the new person.
Kids come in to talk to counselors about their troubles.
Some are sent by teachers who notice they seem argumentative, preoccupied, isolated or angry. Sometimes, a friend tips off counselors about a pal who is struggling. The burdens of counselors and teachers are such that a child can walk around the school for two years in quiet pain before an adult notices. At Central High, counselors say the paper world is where they help kids schedule classes, check their academic credits, plot strategies to make up failing grades, map out career paths, look for scholarships and apply for college admission. The people world is where they talk to teens about depression and grief, abusive parents and uncaring boyfriends.