wrote in message
ps.com...
Dear Divorced,

I'm mom of three. Kids don't get the adult inference of surnames. Their
name is their name. It wouldn't occur to a kid that a name "belongs" to
Dad, or that they could make a statement about rejecting someone by
dumping a surname. That's adult logic, not kid logic.

Not true. My daughter, when in the 7th grade, chose to use my family name
as her last name in school - and she was absolutely making a statement about
rejecting the father who disappeared from her life nearly 5 years ago.

She continues to use my family name, and when her high school pointed out
that she would need to change it back to have her legal name on her diploma,
she pointed out that she was using the name she wanted to have appear on her
diploma.