Minimizing the impact your divorce has on your children

When you and your husband or wife make the decision to divorce in Texas, you must figure out what to do with your children, your home and your assets moving forward. Given everything you have to handle, you may find it hard to give your children the attention they need during what is sure to be a difficult time for them. While a divorce is likely to impact your child, you have at least some degree of control over how much it affects your child’s emotional health and well-being.

Per Psychology Today, many children whose parents divorce feel similarly about the transition.

How divorce impacts children

Sometimes, children whose parents split up mistakenly believe that they are the reason for their parents’ split. Children whose parents divorce are also statistically more likely to develop anxiety, depression or antisocial behavior. Children of divorce are also more likely to develop drug or alcohol dependencies later in life, and to experience more mental and physical health problems than their peers whose parents do not divorce.

How to reduce how much your divorce impacts your children

Not every divorce must be contentious and adversarial. The more efforts you and your ex make to navigate the split smoothly, the more likely your child is to avoid the negative mental and emotional effects of having his or her parents’ divorce. Coming up with and sticking to a parenting plan also helps many families avoid conflict, which is also a frequent cause of strife among children of divorce.

Keep in mind that your child’s other parent is always going to be his or her other parent. For this reason, it is wise to try to keep the relationship between you as amicable as possible both during and after your divorce.