Making divorce less stressful for children

On Behalf of | Jul 17, 2019 | Divorce

When parents in Virginia determine that they can no longer live together, it’s often children who are affected most. Fortunately, there are some steps that parents who are still able to remain civil toward one another can take to protect their kids and make the transition to a two-household life less stressful.

While it’s not always easy for parents to remain entirely civil after untying the knot, children of divorce don’t need to hear tales of their other parent’s misdeeds. Kids also tend to appreciate being clearly told the divorce wasn’t their fault to help ease lingering feelings of guilt. Honestly is important although there is such a thing as sharing too many details, especially painful or uncomfortable ones. Furthermore, children of all ages often benefit from being able to show affection openly for both parents while also being able to talk about enjoyable experiences they have during visits.

It’s healthy for kids to be able to freely share their positive and negative emotions about their parents’ divorce without feeling like they have to be loyal to one parent or the other. Parents no longer living together are also reminded that children aren’t little adults; this means letting kids be kids by not turning to them as a source of post-divorce support or asking them to pass messages along. It can also be helpful if parents allow some reasonable flexibility with visitation schedules so that children can enjoy their various activities and interactions with friends.

Successful co-parenting requires some effort on the part of both parents. If disagreements arise, a divorce attorney may get involved if initial efforts to resolve issues aren’t effective. In order to avoid shaking things up even more for children, a lawyer may attempt to work out acceptable adjustments with an existing custody agreement, a co-parenting plan or visitation schedules.

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