How Divorce Can Impact Your Child (& How To Help Them Thrive During and After Divorce)

There is so much to consider when you are going through a divorce, including your own emotional well-being. However, if you have kids it’s also crucial that you think about the impact that the breakdown of your marriage has on them. Read on to find out more about how divorce can impact your child, and how you can help them thrive during and after.

How Divorce Can Impact Your Child

Emotional Impact of Divorce on Children

First of all, the emotional impact that divorce can have on children is significant. Many worries that it is their fault that their parents have divorced. Most struggle to process the big feelings of loss, often anger, and being let down that can come along with the dissolution of their parent’s marriage. 

Happily, there are many strategies you can use to make sure that your child copes with your divorce. The first is to make it clear to them that it’s not their fault, and that both parents will continue loving them and being in their lives. 

Secondly, it can be very helpful to encourage them to talk about and process their feelings. Often working with an objective counselor can be helpful here because it gives them someone outside of the family unit to discuss things with. 

 

Lastly, you mustn’t be tempted to bad mouth your partner to your soon-to-be ex. Yes, if they have cheated on you or betrayed your trust, you may feel like they are the worst person in the world right now, but your child still needs a relationship with their mother or father, and hearing you verbally destroy them will just make them conflicted. 

To that end, make sure you have someone outside of the home to talk to about this stuff, and stay as neutral as possible when talking about your co-parent in front of your child. 

Financial Impact of Divorce

Divorce can also have a significant effect on the finances that are available to your child. Indeed, if you and your soon-to-be ex plan to no longer live together you must have a child support arrangement. This is because the cost of food, accommodation, clothes and other things will need to be split between you and your partner. The happy news is that a good legal team can make sure that your child support arrangement is fair. This way your child will have access to everything they need. 

Practical Impact of Divorce

Last of all, one of the biggest impacts that divorce can have on children is a practical one. Sometimes it means that they move away from where they live to be with one parent. Something that can be a huge disruption to their lives. 

Other times, it can mean that the child needs to split their lives between two homes, living with one parent some of the time and with the other the rest. Again this can be a massive disruption to the way they live their life. But there are some things you can do to make this easier. For example, sticking to the same rules in both houses for things like bedtimes, chores, homework, and TV can help make the frequent transition between properties a lot easier.