10 Tips to Help Your Child Through Divorce

Helping your child through your divorce may be one of the most difficult tasks you will ever face as a parent.








How Divorced Parents Stay Connected With Their Kids

Parents & divorce experts share strategies for maintaining meaningful relations with children after a split in the family.

The following is a brief list of practical tips from California clinical psychologist Lois Nightingale, who wrote the children’s book, My Parents Still Love Me Even Though They’re Getting Divorced (Nightingale Rose Publications, 1997).


1. Be honest. Don’t lead your child to believe “Dad’s away on business” or “everything is going to be wonderful.” Children are very perceptive. They know if a parent is trying to hide something, even if the purpose is to spare their feelings. Children need simple straightforward answers they can understand, without blame or making anyone wrong or bad.


2. Let your child know it is not their fault. All children assume they may be responsible for their parents’ breakup. Children need to be gently reassured repeatedly over the first couple of years that the divorce is an adult decision having nothing to with them or their behavior.


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