Children And Divorce

A recent statistic shows that almost half of all marriages end in divorce. Divorce is difficult for everyone involved, but maybe the hardest on children. Most often they experience many feelings that they do not understand. They go through a range of emotions and need their parents to understand. If you are going through a divorce getting to understand how your children are dealing with it is important.

When parents divorce they often put their children in the center of arguments and a game of emotional tug of war. To avoid this sort of thing parents need to work together. Even though their marriage is over they are still parents together. The child needs to understand many things about the divorce. Parents need to keep in touch with their children and understand the many feelings they may be having. Older children, especially, can go through periods where they act out as a way to cope with the divorce. Many times children feel the divorce is their fault. They may worry about the future and how to deal with other events, like parent's day at school. Both parents need to show the children that they can work together and not fight. At the same time it is important to let the children know that you are not getting back together. Establishing some sort of family structure is a necessity to help children get back to "normal".

Children will react different depending on their age. The following list explains a little about each age group and how they react to divorce.

Age 3-5: Regression to a more infantile state, problems sleeping, fear of separation

Age 6-8: Fantasies of parents getting back together, open emotions

Age 8-11: Anger, treat one parent as good the other as bad, take a caregiver role

Age 12-18: Depression, violent actions, judgmental of parents, develop anxiety about own relationships

Learning to help your children cope through divorce is possible the most important step in the divorce process. Children have no choice in the matter and may feel completely left out if their feelings are not recognized.

Other articles by this author »
About Stephen Kreutzer

Stephen Kreutzer is a freelance publisher based in Cupertino, California. He publishes articles and reports in various ezines and provides divorce resources at http://www.aboutdivorces.info.


And here is another random article you might be interested in...

Health Insurance, medical insurance and individual health insurance plans.

Health insurance is something that everyone needs today. The rising cost of visiting a health care provider or a hospital stay makes it imperative that everyone have some type of health care coverage. Government statistics estimate that over 40 million people in America are not covered by any type of health insurance on any given day. That's an enormous number of people who really are taking a financial risk.

The best information on individual Health Insurance.

While most Americans are able to obtain some type of health insurance through their place of employment, many others, the underemployed, the self-employed and the unemployed simply don't know where to find good, quality coverage at a fair price. The Census Bureau estimates that nearly 15% of the population has no coverage. The long term effects of this are hard to quantify because it means that young children do not see a health care provider unless they are seriously ill. Unfortunately this approach while appearing to save money can be devastating to the long term health of the child.

Health care providers and other experts all recommend that every one have some type of health insurance for the necessary time when they'll need to visit their Doctor or hospital.