I grew up in a household where my parents spent every weekend arguing (Dad worked away all week). The rows were horrendous, made worse by the fact that Dad often refused to argue back and would just sit there whilst my mum threw cups of tea/plates of dinner at him.
She would then storm off in the car leaving us children with no idea when or if she would return.
For years, whenever this would happen, we would beg and beg her to not go (she always returned a few hours later) but by the time I was 13 or so I gave up and started to wish she would just go. She used to threaten to divorce my father and I used to sit there thinking go on then, please do.
It affected my future relationship massively, when I first got with DH at just 17 my natural response when we argued was to turn it into something massive and hysterical. I honestly thought that was what you had to do - I would try and provoke a reaction. Luckily DH had more of a spine than my father did and refused to put up with it and showed me that every row, especially when usually over something silly, did not have to end with me storming out and saying that was it, we're over.
Mum and dad never did split up, my mum died shortly after their 25th wedding anniversary and the last few weeks of her life (she was terminally ill) were spent in deep devotion to each other. My father adored her, god knows why, we all adored her. If only she could've seen that during the rest of their marriage and our childhood, we would all have been much happier.
They should've split up though, no question about it. What they put us children through was horrific, even though we had happy times too and they were under tremendous financial stress for the majority of their relationship - still no excuse. Luckily all us children are in stable relationships, DH and I have some major issues but thankfully not related to my childhood.