It’s a late Sunday night and the moment she has been dreading all week has finally come.

Loy Norrix senior Ella Boyea tiredly gets up from her bed, gathering her things and packing her bags so she’s ready to leave for her other home the next day. Even though she’s been doing it for about 8 years now, the late night packing always seems to put her in a weird mood. She thinks about how tiring this Monday to Monday schedule with her parents is and wishes she didn’t have to condense her whole life into 3 duffle bags each week.

Going back and forth is what’s really hard for Boyea. She mainly struggles with the amount of packing she has to do on a weekly basis.

“Socially, I hang out with people more and see people more when I’m with my mom, but schoolwise I have to pack like 3 bags everytime I go back and forth on top of my school bag. It’s just a lot and the transition is really stressful,” Boyea said.

Many don’t realize just how hard having two different lives really is. Especially when divorced parents don’t get along with each other.

“My parents don’t talk at all, and that leads to me having to step up a lot and sometimes act as my own parent,” Boyea said.

Having to parent themselves at such a young age is a very stressful thing to put a child through and can take a serious toll on mental health. It is harder for students don’t have parental support all the time.

Senior Kylie Kilgo is also a child of divorced parents. “It’s hard sometimes when one parent doesn’t fill the spot, and I feel like I need the other, but the other one is not there so I feel like I can’t depend on either of them,” Kilgo said.

Not only does living with divorced parents change children’s school/social lives, it also changes their perspective on marriage completely.

“I honestly feel that when I get older it’ll be hard for me to have a consistent, strong, solid marriage just because that’s what I’m used to,” Kilgo said.

Kilgo is certainly not the only one who feels this way. Boyea says her feelings on marriage have changed as well.

“I feel like everyone just gets divorced, it makes me scared to get married,” said Boyea.