Welcome back to our series on dealing with the emotional impacts of divorce on children. Thus far, we have looked at:
- Dealing With Kids’ Emotions In Divorce (An Introduction)
- Anger and the Child of Divorce
- Anxiety and the Child of Divorce
- Chaos and the Child of Divorce
- Confusion and the Child of Divorce
- Denial and the Child of Divorce
- Depression and the Child of Divorce
- Embarrassment and the Child of Divorce
- Fear and the Child of Divorce
- Grief and the Child of Divorce
- Guilt and the Child of Divorce
- Loneliness and the Child of Divorce
- Loss and the Child of Divorce
- Powerlessness and the Child of Divorce
- Sadness and the Child of Divorce
- Shock and the Child of Divorce
- Stress and the Child of Divorce
Most children of divorce begin a pattern of traveling back and forth between two houses – two families – two lives. They are never fully present in either place as they wonder what they are missing at the other home. They are on constant alert not to offend one parent by talking about the other. In the end, they end up feeling torn in two.
At Divorce Ministry 4 Kids, we have put together the following one page infographic on helping children of divorce deal with feeling torn as a result of the divorce of their parents (click on the picture below for a full sized pdf version of the pamphlet). Please feel free to share this pamphlet with parents and others who work with children of divorce.
“Torn” also needs to include one parent pressuring the child to tear away from the other parent. The child feels obligated to show that parent loyalty, otherwise the child feels he/she will lose that parent if they don’t take that parent’s side…..the less pressuring parent initially “loses” the child – hoping that one day the child will not be torn like that…..
(hope that makes sense…..)