02 Jun How to Prepare Your Children for a Divorce: What to Expect and How to Handle It
No one ever wants to go through a divorce, but sometimes it is necessary. When you do decide to end your marriage, it is important to think about how the divorce will affect your children. This can be a difficult conversation to have, but it is important that you are prepared for it. In this blog post, we will discuss how to best prepare your children for the divorce and what to expect afterward. We will also provide tips on how to handle child custody and divorce attorneys.
First and foremost, do your children understand what divorce really means? Depending on their age group, it may be difficult for them to wrap their heads around what’s going on with their family. They may feel alone, betrayed, neglected, and confused. It’s important as their parents to sit them down and let them know that their feelings are valid, but also to give some clarity to the situation. Set expectations for this process, and let them know what it will look like for them. Let them know that they are loved, and just because their parents are separating it doesn’t change how you feel about them, or that they have done anything wrong to cause this.
The first thing you need to do is sit down with your children and explain the situation to them. Be honest about why things have changed and let them know that it will not be overnight, but that things will change over time. It is also important to address any feelings that they may have about the divorce. If there are still feelings among family members, let them know that they need to be addressed before anything else happens.
Allow your children to ask questions. There are probably a million things swirling around in their head that they want to ask or say, or maybe they don’t know how to articulate them. Help guide them through this by giving them the time and space to share their emotions with you. This isn’t any easy thing to process for them, especially within younger children.
After you have explained the situation to your children, it is important to discuss child custody. You will need to decide who will have primary custody of the children and how visitation will work. You may want to decide on primary custody for one parent while giving another person visitation rights, or maybe even turning over full-time child raising duties every other weekend (or whatever arrangement works best). Your divorce attorney can help guide this process if it’s not something that sounds too difficult from an outside perspective.
Whatever you decide, it is important that you are on the same page. Your divorce attorney can help guide you through this process and make sure that everything is handled properly. You and your partner should discuss these terms with each other so that your children don’t see a lot of the chaos behind the divorce. You want to try and keep the emotions leveled in the household as best as possible.
Child custody cases can be difficult for a child.Their state of mind and well-being should be considered a top priority no matter the situation. If you need any guidance during this period, reach out to Mekis Law. Our team is happy to help you and your family navigate through this difficult time (615) 653-4540.