Creating Sadness on Happy Days

Every divorced parent who has children still in school should be required to read this. In it, Susan Estrich moves from the subject of the highly publicized attendance and departure of Rudy Giuliani from his daughter's graduation to her own experience with parents and steparents on what should have been happy days.

Many years ago, I witnessed a girl in tears on the football field following her high school graduation, as her father berated her endlessly about her plans for that evening. He was blaming his ex-wife for the disagreement, and he was determined to win that imagined battle, but the girl actually just wanted to be with friends. It was a terrible scene. The day was supposed to be happy.