How to keep divorce from hurting the children

As a parent, you may be legitimately fearful about how a divorce in North Carolina will affect your child. You have likely heard stories of children who take years to recover from a divorce or bear lifelong scars from their parents’ split. However, there are a number of things that you can do to minimize the impact of the divorce on your children.

Keep structure in place

There is no escaping the fact that divorce affects children negatively. However, you can attempt to provide them with as much normalcy as possible during this time even if you feel that your life is not under control. When the children are with you, keep a structure in your home and do not abandon rules. Make sure to clearly communicate to them the expectations in your home. Also, you should not try to become the “fun parent” in the hopes of winning approval from your children.

Communicate and talk to your children

Communication is also very important during a divorce. Your children should know that they can always come to you to discuss their feelings. You should periodically check in on then to see how they are doing. Speaking of communication, one of the things that you should never tell a child is something negative about the other parent. This will put the kids in the middle and force them to choose sides between the parents. This can cause long-term damage.

Divorce can be a difficult process, but it does not have to be contentious and litigious. Often, bitter divorces are the ones that affect the children the most. Hiring a family law attorney may help keep a divorce from spiraling out of control. Your attorney may be able to facilitate a settlement by helping you be realistic when you negotiate. The attorney might also know how to diffuse tensions when they appear set to bring the case to a litigious place.