Holland, MI -- (SBWire) -- 11/07/2012 --With over 40% (source: PolitiFact) of U.S marriages ending in divorce, millions of parents are trying, once again, to feel good about themselves. However, according to Jonathan Mitchell, this journey of reinvention almost always neglects their children. Using his own experience as a victim to help others find solace, Mitchell announces a frankly honest book of inspirational poetry.
“Kids Get the Shaft” stems from the forty two year-old’s own experience of parental divorce while in seventh grade. After keeping his feelings bottled up for over a decade before finally deciding to document them, the book’s seventeen poems each focus on a specific thing that kids hate about having divorced parents.
“Kids often don’t like each parent’s new boyfriend or girlfriend, hating the way they are simply expected to accept them. They also don’t like having to go to the amusement park with the new friend’s children, being forced to negotiate between parents for each new item of clothing and facing the unbearable decision of which parent to live with,” says Mitchell, who is now happily married with three children.
He continues, “My siblings and I have spent dozens of hours discussing how the fallout between parents ultimately affects kids. In fact, I still have to juggle which parent to spend Christmas with and which one to invite to which event. It always falls back onto the kids and it continues for the rest of their lives.”
Accompanying each of the seventeen themes is a self-help-style explanation that discusses each in depth. Culminating in series of chapters that encourage children to move forward, Mitchell’s book is creating both emotional venting and inspiration for all that read it.
“It’s guaranteed to make you laugh, and make you cry. It does not need to be defended because it's how I felt and feel about being a kid in a divorced home. While many parents may feel it lacks a renewal quality, the renewal is in the honesty,” he adds.
Since its release, the book has garnered a consistent string of rave reviews. As an example, one anonymous reader of Michigan said that, “No matter what your age is, if your parents’ marriage ended in divorce you will be able to relate to this book. Thank you Jonathan for putting into words what all us 'kids' have been feeling.”
The response to the book has come from the most unexpected of places, as Mitchell explains.
“I have had Grandparents buy the book for their divorced kids as they feel helpless, friends are buying it for divorced acquaintances as a path to the truth and I have even had divorce lawyers and therapists buy it for their clients. The response really has been amazing,” he says.
With many congratulating Mitchell for his lack of fear to talk about the white elephant in the room of divorce, help is finally at hand for those who need it the most.
‘Kids Get the Shaft’ can be purchased from the book’s official website, as well as via Amazon.
Official website: http://www.kidsgettheshaft.com
Amazon purchase link: bitly.com/YtfTxg
About the project, in Mitchell’s own words:
About Kids Get the Shaft
Kids Get the Shaft started as a cathartic exercise for me to vent frustrations about my broken home. I wrote poems about some of the things I hate about being in a divorced family, and continued to expand on them over time. As much as I am thrilled with my life at this point (I have a beautiful wife and three fantastic kids), the fire continues to grow. My marriage is great, but many of the relationships around me are blowing up. Most of the kids that are a part of those families are stuck in the same load of crap I was. It makes me sick for the kids, and angry at the parents.
Kids Get the Shaft was published for those kids. I have seventeen specific things that kids really hate about having divorced parents. I am confident that any kid in a divorced home will share many of them with me. While the book was written to the kids, it should be mandatory reading for every parent that has created a broken home in America. That's right, parents - you made this mess, and we kids gotta clean it up. It may feel like a poke in the eye when you read it, but it will make you a better parent for doing so.
