Tips for Helping Kids Who Are Hurting After a Divorce
Posted on: April 15, 2020
Parents who divorce have many potentially painful experiences to deal with. They need to do what’s best for them but this can often hurt the children. If you have divorced, or are about to file for divorce, the following tips could help you help your children. If you need help with family law, including child custody and child support, contact Law Office of Michael L. Fell at (949) 585-9055 .
Understand How Your Child’s Life is Changing
Many parents try to do everything they can to reduce the impact of their divorce on their children. While this is well-meaning, the truth is that your child’s life will change. Instead of having dinner with two parents, they will have one. Instead of having both parents in the same, their parents will be sleeping in separate homes. As a result, you should be less focused on finding ways to reduce the impact and focus more on making that impact possible.
Be Warm and Provide Your Child with Emotional Support
Parents who do not know how to make their child feel better are very likely to look for any options they can find. The truth is that buying them things, taking them on trips, etc. are not what your child needs – your child needs you to be warm and provide emotional support. Instead of trying to cheer them up if they are down, let your child know it is okay to be sad and to have mixed emotions.
Monitor Your Child’s Activities
The fact is that no matter how you try, some kids will act out when their parents’ divorce. As a result, you should take extra care to monitor their activities. Does this mean that you should not let them out of your site or try to keep them under your thumb at all times? No – but it does mean that you should ask for a daily schedule and update.
Seek to Be Neither Overly-Permissive nor Overly-Strict
Getting a parenting plan down is difficult enough under the best of conditions but when you are divorcing, you are more likely to go to one extreme or the other. Avoid this urge. You do not want to “make up for it” by letting your child do and go anywhere they want. Neither do you want to come in like a helicopter parent and take away freedoms they are used to. As is true with most things, the idea is to find the right balance.
Call Us for Help with the Legal Aspects of Your Divorce
There is nothing easy about what you are going through but there are ways you can make it easier. At Law Office of Michael L. Fell we strongly recommend that you work with an experienced family law attorney who will have your best interests in mind. Call us at (949) 585-9055 now for a free legal consultation.
