Posted by DivorceLine in Divorce and Children
Children have extremely fragile minds and divorce can cause feelings of depression and anxiety. Mostly children tend to get anxious about the living arrangement and not having one of their parents around. The most traditional approach for living arrangements for children has been for the children to live with one of the parents with the other parent having visitation rights. There are also times when children alternate between their parents’ home. However, this can prove to be difficult if both the parents are not staying close to the child’s school. In addition, this sort of a living arrangement may hamper the child’s social circle if both the parents do not reside in the same neighbourhood. Therefore, to ensure that children have a stable home and social environment, most parents have started opting for a nesting arrangement.
A nesting arrangement allows the children to stay in one home whereas the parents move in and out as per their agreement. Typically, in a nesting arrangement, each parent has a separate residential address where they stay when it is not their turn to live with the children. This sort of an arrangement becomes especially useful when your child has a pet. Pets can be an important stabilizing factor in your child’s life at the time of the divorce. When nothing in your child’s environment seems the same, pets can provide great comfort emotionally by being the one steady factor in your child’s life. Children tend to feel that their world is coming apart because of the divorce. The last thing that you would want to do would be to deprive your child of their pet. Even if you are not opting for a nesting arrangement, make sure that your child gets to keep the pet.
Living arrangements can be relatively simpler when you have one child. However, what happens when your child has siblings? It would not be in the best interests of your children to have them separated. Your children already stand to lose their home as well as their parents. Think about the mental torture that the siblings will go through when they learn that they will be losing each other as well. Being around siblings can provide great reassurance to your children. This can be a lonely time for your children and they can help each other by being there for each other and talking about their insecurities. This is the time when your children need their brother or sister more than ever.
Your children will be going through an emotional turmoil and they may not be able to understand whom to turn to. As children, they might become confused while analysing where their loyalties lie. When your children do not know where to turn to, they will most likely turn to each other for support. Sibling relationship can be one of the most wonderful relationships in the world. Brothers and sisters share a special bond wherein they protect, love, share, and care for one another. This bond requires time to build up. If you separate your children from each other, they will not be able to spend quality time and may not be able to form an intimate emotional connection with each other.
Having children who are teenagers can be especially challenging. It is imperative for you to understand that even though teenagers may appear to be grown up, divorce can still be a tough time for them. Teenagers may blame you or your spouse for the split and may find it very hard to accept a third person in your life, if you have any. There are times when teenagers blame themselves for the divorce. Teenage children tend to worry more about the financial aspect because they do not know if they would still be able to maintain their lifestyle or not. In addition, they find it very hard to express themselves because of their anger and may keep their emotions bottled up inside.
Teenagers will have many questions about the divorce and your relationship with your ex-spouse. This is because they are beginning to understand the dynamics of relationships now and would want to know how correct they are in their thought process. An aspect that affects children and grandparents alike is their relationship during the divorce process. Divorce can change certain relationships and this change may be hard on you as well as your grandchild. Parents can help in making the grandparents understand their roles after the divorce. There are times when divorce process is a bitter one and the grandparents may be deprived of meeting their grandchildren out of spite. In such cases, you can either talk about your concerns to the custodial parent or seek legal assistance to gain visitation rights.
