IF a married man walks out on his family, or worse still, takes his children with him leaving his wife devastated when she has done nothing to deserve such treatment, he is, quite rightly, criticised.

If the so-called reason for this desertion is that he has asked himself "is this all there is?" the action is even more inexcusable.

What Zena Barker did when she left her husband was wrong (Impressions, July 24). No amount of whinging about not being able to "fulfil herself as a person, etc. etc." can alter the fact that she deprived a man who cared for his family of her love and support and his children, while depriving those children of his presence in their home.

If all wives and husbands walked out on their partners simply because they had realised, after all, that a lasting marriage was not for them, society would be in an even greater shambles than it is now.

Children need parents who put their needs before any self-centred, unrealistic dreams of their own, at least until the children have realised their own normal and rightful expectations of a secure family life with two living-in parents, whom they can trust absolutely to do the right thing.

Heather Causnett,

Escrick Park Gardens,

Escrick, York.

Updated: 12:57 Friday, July 27, 2001