Relieving your child’s anxiety during the divorce process

When a California family goes through a divorce, it can cause a lot of unwanted feelings. As parents feel preoccupied with their concerns, they might be unaware their children are also dealing with many emotions. Fortunately, there are many ways for parents to provide emotional support to their children.

Encourage children to share their feelings

Children can often feel angry, sad or stressed out about their parents getting divorced. However, they might not feel comfortable sharing these emotions with their parents, so it’s important to encourage your children to share their opinions with you. Let your child know that you want to help them, and really listen when they open up without providing feedback on their feelings. It’s important that they feel heard and not judged.

Make time for fun activities

Sometimes, parents and children need time away from the routine schedule of work and school. Think about scheduling something fun for you and your children. Even a weekend trip to somewhere nearby can be great to get everyone’s mind off of a divorce.

Ask what you can do to help

It’s also possible for children to shut down emotionally, afraid of further stressing out their parents during an emotional time. You can stop this problem by asking children what they need or what you can do to help them. This calming technique makes your child feel important, and they’ll likely feel calmer when they realize that they are not alone. Experts recommend asking open-ended questions to avoid one-word responses from your children.

Learning that their parents will no longer be together isn’t easy for most children to hear. However, offering an environment of support and love can help make life after divorce easier for your children.