One of the primary considerations for Indiana parents is how to keep the divorce from devastating the children. It is natural that there will be some impact on the children as they cannot be completely sheltered from what is happening. However, the steps that the parents take will dictate how much the children are affected.
The most important thing during the divorce is to provide as much normalcy as possible. This means that the children will still need to have rules and structure at each parent’s house. They should know ahead of time what the expectations are, and there should be consistency in enforcing the rules. Parents should not let order fall by the wayside in an attempt to be the fun parent.
Communication is also vital. While a parent may be hurting themselves, they need to be available to the children when they want to talk. Parents should proactively reach out to the children to see how they are doing because the kids will not always let them know that something is wrong. When a parent does communicate, they need to make sure that they do not disparage the other parent to the children. This forces them to choose sides and will accentuate the damage. Parents need to remember that it is always about the children first even though it is the parents who are getting the divorce.
One way to make the transition smoother for the children is to resolve the divorce amicably and avoid litigation. A divorce attorney could facilitate that by negotiating the divorce agreement with the other side. Children react worse when they know that there is a tense situation. In addition, the lawyer’s efforts may free up the parent to focus on their children since they do not have to handle as many of the details of the divorce.
