It’s 2018 and it’s pretty obvious that this is not the world it was back in the olden days. The family unit has expanded to incorporate all different kinds of combinations of people and lifestyles. Along with that comes the increasingly common occurrence of divorce. As it happens more and more often, it has also become much more acceptable in the eyes of society. “For Americans, divorce is very normalized. Half of my friends’ parents are divorced,” said senior Andrew Friedman.

Here’s something maybe even shocking to consider: North Atlanta has been pegged “The School for Divorced Parents” by many private schoolers and their parents. Among the more philosophical in our midst, there’s a feeling of possible shock when you meet someone from North Atlanta whose parents are actually married. Growing up, this wasn’t the case and it felt like divorce was something rarely talked about. Recently, however, divorce is much less stigmatized and people are very open about it. “I feel like the perspective on divorce has totally changed. It’s not as taboo as it used to be,” said senior Demetrios Mammas.

It is clear that divorce isn’t seen as much as a big deal the way it used to be, but it has also affected the way many students view love and marriage. It seems to have made people a bit more jaded when it comes to relationships. “I feels like divorce has almost taken away from the fairy tale,” said Friedman.

The fairy tale may be gone but divorce doesn’t have to be the nightmare it is sometimes made out to be. For many kids with divorced parents, it is more inconvenient than tragic. As someone whose parents have been divorced since I was two, I can say that, more often than not, the greatest struggle was needing my gym clothes from my dads house and having to wait until his weekend. Although, this is not the case with everyone. “I didn’t really have that father figure everyone else has. My dad just wasn’t around,” said Mammas.

Teenagers aren’t seeing the world through rose-colored glasses anymore, but this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Some students say it simply makes them more cautious and realistic with their expectations. Gen Zers know that love doesn’t always turn out the way we want, but we also haven’t let this keep us away from falling over and over again. Rather than let the statistics scare them off, many teens plan to learn from the mistakes of past generations.