HELPING CHILDREN COPE WITH DIVORCE

There are several tools you can utilize when helping children cope with divorce. This article is an important read to help them cope with the stress and trauma of divorce.

Here are some highlights from the article:

"What your child wants from his/her parents during a divorce:

1) I need both of you to stay involved in my life. Please call me, email, text, and ask me lots of questions. When you don’t stay involved, I feel like I’m not important and that you don’t really love me.

2) Please stop fighting and work hard to get along with each other. Try to agree on matters related to me. When you fight about me, I think that I did something wrong and I feel guilty.

3) I want to love you both and enjoy the time that I spend with each of you. Please support me and the time that I spend with each of you. If you act jealous or upset, I feel like I need to take sides and love one parent more than the other.

4) Please communicate directly with each other so that I don’t have to send messages back and forth between you.

What do children want from their parents during divorce?

5) When talking about my other parent, please say only kind things, or don’t say anything at all. When you say mean, unkind things about my other parent, I feel like you are expecting me to take your side.

6) Please remember that I want both of you in my life. I count on my mom and dad to raise me, to teach me what is important, and to help me when I have problems."

Source: University of Missouri

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