This is so upsetting, and it's one of the reasons why I don't believe staying "for the sake of the children" is actually worth it. People are so afraid of their kids living in a "broken home" but I think we really need to reevaluate that term; because really all it originally meant in this context is that the parents are no longer together. I've encountered people who have grown up much happier with divorced parents than people who have grown up with parents that shouldn't have been together. It sends a bad message that you should stay in a relationship even though it no longer serves (or never served) either party. A home in which the parents no longer are together but still have a respectable relationship sounds much better than a house in which the parents don't even like each other.