For all of your child’s life, they have known their parents to live together under one roof. All that is about to change once you finalize your divorce. Your child will, eventually, learn about your divorce.
You may wonder if you should talk about your divorce to your child before it’s finalized. Many people believe that talking about divorce to their children helps ease the transition. If you’re considering talking about your divorce, you may want to ask yourself the following questions:
What should you say?
There’s a lot that’s going to happen in your child’s life after your divorce is finalized. You may want to bring up some of the changes that will occur after everything is done. For example, you may want to prepare your child by talking about whether they’ll have to change schools. Or, you could talk about how you will only get to see your child every other day, week or month – depending on how your visitation rights are decided.
You may also consider talking about why the divorce is happening. You don’t have to say exactly why the divorce is happening if, for example, it was due to cheating, addiction or financial issues. You could simplify it by saying that you and your spouse had a difference in opinions, for instance.
How will my children react?
Your child’s age will heavily determine how they react to the news. A young grade-schooler may blame themself for the divorce. And, teenagers become reserved and act out. Some children, however, may only ask a lot of questions and go on about their day.
Before you have this talk with your child, you may benefit by reaching out for legal help and determining your options.
