I’ll allow every situation is different, but I’m telling you my impressions over three+ decades of teaching maybe 4,000 students total.
When I was in high school we all knew that my mom was seriously considering leaving, dunno that she ever would have because they were Catholics. My Dad did nothing bad, devoted father etc etc but mom got married young and all of that. Then my Dad got disabled, couldn’t work so she stuck it out.
Today in her old age she is surrounded by more than ten now-grown grandchildren who all think she walks on water. Going skydiving with grandma has become a rite of passage for them. She is the center of our whole extended family.
If she had pulled the plug back then, it woulda split us apart, permanently, and the repercussions would be felt to this very day. My mom is very glad she stuck with it, so is everybody else.
It reminds me of the whole abortion deal; short term expediency yielding bitter fruit. My son was six when I arrived, aborting him woulda been an easy choice for my then-teenage Ex, but she didn’t and now I have a son and a grandchild that thinks it’s ME that walks on water 🙂
I guess my problem is I look at things on an Eternal time scale. One of the impressions I wanna leave behind is that I always kept my word and had their back, no matter what.
That’s how I look at things.
