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" I know I shared once before about a divorce ceremony that was in fashion in Japan a few years ago - it involved crushing the wedding rings wtih a hammer, and having a meal where people divided up and ate with the bride or groom, who sat back-to-back at separate tables. It all sounded a bit angry to me, though I do understand the need to have some sort of closure to the process. I have a friend who drank wine and burned her keepsake wedding invitations on the grill her husband left behind, cackling madly and dancing. It worked for her, and believe me, I&amp;#039;ve flirted with the idea myself. Yesterday, I came across this piece about a new kind of divorce ceremony, and it really gave me food for thought. This is a kinder, gentler ceremony, focused on making vows that you&amp;#039;ll keep not just to each other, but to your children. The parents grasp an olive branch instead of a bouquet, and recite their divorce vows to each other, with the children standing off to the side as witnesses. The ceremony is the brainchild of Dr. Jeffrey Zimmerman, a clinical psychologist and author of The Co-Parenting Survival Guide. He also encourages the parents to print out their vows, frame them and post them in their homes. &amp;quot;Kids start to hold their parents accountable,&amp;quot; Zimmerman explains. &amp;quot;They say, &amp;#039;Mom, that&amp;#039;s number three! You said you wouldn&amp;#039;t put us in the middle.&amp;#039;&amp;quot; I know Peter would never go for anything like this - it&amp;#039;s just not his style. And in a perfect world, parents wouldn&amp;#039;t have to make those vows to their kids and put them in writing because they would already be in place (and acted on). I do think this could be a really positive thing for the kids (assuming they&amp;#039;re old enough to understand it, of course). Telling them that &amp;quot;We, your parents, vow to keep you first in every interaction we have&amp;quot; is a good thing, I think. And again, a ceremony provides a sense of closure - the marking of the end of the old way of life and the beginning of a new one. What do you think? Would a divorce ceremony have helped you or your kids? "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.womansday.com/relationships/dating-marriage/a47000/new-divorce-ceremony/>