I’ve faced many difficult moments in my life. Who hasn’t? But preparing to tell my son that I will be divorcing his father was absolutely one of the worst. The emotions surging through my body were overwhelming. Deep, gut-wrenching fear. Continuous anxiety. Incredible guilt. And the oppressive weight of shame. My son, after all, was
For children of divorce moving between homes is stressful enough without the transfers themselves being upsetting. There are many ways in which parents can turn simple transfers into real nightmares. If your transfers are unnecessarily stressful following these tips for minimizing your child’s parent-to-parent transfer: General Tips Keep your child’s transfer as brief as possible
When families “blend” to create stepfamilies, things rarely progress smoothly. Some children may resist changes, while parents can become frustrated when the new family doesn’t function like their previous family. While changes to family structure require adjustment time for everyone involved, these guidelines can help blended families work out their growing pains and live together
Stay together for the sake of the kids? Generations of miserable parents followed that advice, hoping their sacrifices would pay off for their children in the end. Many still believe that it’s the only option for parents stuck in a dead-end marriage. Based on my own personal experience, I have another perspective. Having been raised
Children, as much as possible, should be spared from the burden of dealing with the issues of their parent’s divorce. Juggling school and getting kids to after school activities can be very challenging for all parents, but especially so for divorced parents. Read and heed these back to school tips to prevent your child from
One of the most consistent research findings that explore the effects of divorce on children is that the results are inconsistent. Yes, that is what I meant to write. Thirty years of scientific study have concluded that there are no simple answers to the question about how children will be affected by divorce. In 2010
With attention fully on the Vikings stadium issue, a bill that would change child custody proceedings for divorcing parents in Minnesota is quietly inching its way closer to the governor’s desk. The latest version of HF322 would simply increase the presumed time each divorcing parent would get with his or her kids from 25 percent
As working parents’ roles in the lives of their children evolve with the demands of the modern economy, so too do their parental rights as divorced parents. Traditionally, a child’s custodial parent would be the primary residential parent and child support recipient and the non-custodial parent would pay child support and be granted “visitation.” Those
In week six of Children of Divorce and Changing Families’ 8-week program, we do an exercise where we ask each child in the 10-12 year old group to create a set of rules that they wish their parents would follow to ease post divorce stresses. The rules they write privately are then shared with the
Divorced parents who fail to fulfill their responsibilities to their children stand to lose guardianship under a proposed law that requires both the mother and father to share custody. The Law Reform Commission in 2005 recommended that a law be introduced requiring divorced parents to share custody of their children in the future. This would
