Your marriage might be ending but your family is not. While you and your spouse decide how to separate, the family itself should not be parting ways. Instead, there should be a new solution that works better for your family dynamic that considers the needs of each family member. Feeling isolated, unheard or that everything is changing too quickly can lead to a lot of anxiety for children and parents alike.

Assuring your children that not much will change won’t help in the long run. After all, everything certainly will change in their lives. However, having an honest dialogue about what they can expect and how things will move forward can help establish a routine that will help everyone adjust and stay together, even as things change.

Routine

Setting up a routine for each day, week and month will help you and your ex-spouse keep things going. If your child has a lot of extracurricular activities, it should be discussed how they will be paid for and how rides to and from those activities will be handled. Additionally, setting up who will attend different events can help children feel they are still being supported, even as things get more hectic.

Set Boundaries

While you may have angry feelings toward your ex, your child should not be affected. Unless the spouse has been abusive toward you or your child, be sure to help the relationship stay strong. This means not saying negative things about the other parent or trying to diminish them in the child’s life. Even further, it means setting boundaries with your co-parent and communicating on what will be said to and in front of the child to maintain healthy family ties.

Staying Together

If your spouse won’t be living with your child, make sure there is an opportunity for them to see the child regularly and be part of more everyday activities. While you may not want to see them regularly, feeling as though they are losing a parent will likely make a child resentful and affect their mental health. Even though a lot will change for your child, keeping the family together by regularly having contact and activities can lead to a healthier childhood.

If you are considering divorce, contact us today. Not only do we handle divorce cases with the professionalism that leads to better outcomes for our clients, we understand how to make the process easier on the children involved.