This week we talk to young people about family break-ups.
| I think parents should wait for children to grow up before separating so they don't get hurt. |
Ruth Benham, 9, Ferryhill
I don't think families should split up because that's cruel. A kid would feel very upset if their family had broken up. My family split up when I was only just born. The good thing about my family splitting up is I don't have to see my dad. I stay with my mam's side of the family.
Dionne Pearson, 11, Blakelaw
My family has never split up. I would cry if they did.
If my family split up, I would do bad things like running away. I would stay in touch with none of them. I would go and live with my Nana because it wouldn't be fair if I went to live with one parent and not the other. I think families feel sad when they break up.
I think families that have split up sometimes get back together because of the children. I think parents should live together if they have children. If my da hit my ma or anything like that, I would rather they split up.
Amy Soanes, 9, Cowgate
I think if a family has to split up it should be when they are old. I think families that have split up feel sad. My family split up and I felt sad.
I think families that have split do sometimes get back together because they can't stay apart from each other. Some of my friends' families have split up but they don't say anything about it. I would be upset if my family split up. I would do bad things. If they split up I would go with my ma.
Lee Holden, 17, Walker
I don't think families should split up when their kids are young. It should happen when kids are older. I don't think splitting up makes kids very happy because they lose a father or mother. The good thing, though, is that it could stop arguments.
Andrew Bates, 15, Wallsend
I don't think families should split up unless there's a really bad problem. If somebody's really young, they might be really confused or upset at what's going on.
My family are together, but if they split I think I'd feel really upset about it. I'd just want then to get back together. I've got friends whose families have split up. If my parents split, I'd be split between two sides. My dad's my dad and my mam's my mam and I love them both.
Slobodan, 20, a Croatian refugee living in North Shields
I think parents should wait for children to grow up before separating so they don't get hurt. Children can then decide what they want to do and then families can think about splitting up if they really want to.
I was 18 when my parents split up. I understood what happened but I felt horrible because I didn't want it to happen. There were people who were getting hurt, like my mother, and I had to support her.
I stayed in touch with both parents. I've had friends whose parents split up, but they didn't talk much about it, because they didn't know what was happening. They didn't like it though. Sometimes it can be good, say where a family member is hurting a child.
Christie Newby, 11, Cowgate
I think parents should wait until children are older before they split. They will be then be able to sit down and talk and explain. When children are younger they would be really sad, upset and frustrated and they wouldn't understand.
My parents split when I was two and I've had it explained to me what happened, but it still upsets me sometimes. My mam and dad live apart from each other and I live with my mum, but I see my dad at weekends. I've got a friend whose dad lives in London. She doesn't get to see him very often and she misses him.
The good side of parents splitting up is that there's no arguments. The bad things are them not speaking and feeling a torn between them.
About the team
Interviews by reporters Gavin Mather, 12; Lyndsey Smeaton and Christie Newby, 11. Junior Jury is a weekly column published in the Newcastle Evening Chronicle.
