Three Ways to Make Divorce Easier for Your Children
Divorce is never easy, even if it is quick and friendly, and if you have children, you want to do your best to make the whole situation easier for them. Here are three ways to reduce the impact of divorce on your children.
These tips all boil down to reducing the stress on you and your children, both during and after a divorce, and to try to smooth it out as a change – but not necessarily a traumatic event – in everyone’s life.
- Minimize conflict between you and your ex . Start by forgiving yourself and your ex, at least on some level. This is not easy and can be nearly impossible depending on your situation, but it will make it much easier to reduce conflicts around your children. The goal is for your kids to see both parents as much and as best as possible, without arguments or negative comments every time they do so.
- Reduce the number of transitions your children have to go through . Divorce brings enough change, and any additional transitions or changes you avoid will result in less stress for your children. Changing schools, moving to a different home, changing quality of life due to changes in family income, and ultimately new partners for their parents are all traumatic, and some of them may be necessary, but try to keep them to a minimum. Some changes are inevitable, but remembering when or not transitions should happen and what you can do to make them easier will help your children adjust to life after divorce.
- Take care of yourself to be close to your children . Taking care of yourself is very important , especially during a difficult time like divorce. Minimizing your own stress will help you become a better parent and be able to focus on what your kids need to feel safe and loved as things change.
Whether your kids are toddlers or teens, focusing on the areas listed above will make it easier for them to deal with divorce, and you can work on those areas no matter how long you’ve been divorced.
“Good” divorce | The highest good in action