One of the most painful aspects of divorce is breaking the news to your children. When you are sure you are getting a divorce, it is critical to inform your children before they find out another way. Can you imagine how devastating it would be to hear about the breakup through a friend or family member?
With appropriate thought and planning, you can talk to your children about the divorce and help them get used to it. Learn about how to talk to your kids about divorce below. Then contact our Skokie divorce attorneys if you have questions about the divorce process.
When talking to the kids about your divorce, the most important thing is to do it calmly and carefully. Protecting your children from any anger and sadness, you feel about the situation is critical. Can you and your spouse tell the children together? This is preferred if both of you can do so in a unified voice.
Many mental health experts recommend telling the children on a day when you will have several hours together. For example, you might take them to the beach or park, have family fun, and incorporate this difficult discussion into the day. However, you should not talk to them about it on a holiday or before they go to bed.
Divorce is a highly upsetting experience; you should never blame the other spouse in speaking with your children. Some parents feel they owe their children a simple explanation of what went wrong, such as infidelity. However, children will feel stuck in the middle if blame is assigned.
The details of why the divorce happened do not matter as much to the children as you might think. Instead, focus on giving your children the reassurance and emotional support they need.
If you have more than one child, ensure all of them are told together and simultaneously. It does not help the situation if one child tells the other. If the children are many years apart, you should still tell them together. But keep it simple in the initial conversation if one child is younger than the other. Then follow up with the older child later.
Like you, the children will be concerned about divorce. Where will the kids live? Who will they live with? Are we moving? Tell them about what will change, and also be honest if you don’t know the answers yet; be honest about it.
There are many challenging aspects to a divorce. For example, how will you separate your finances from your spouse? Where will you live? How will your kids handle the breakup? When so much is at stake, working with divorce attorneys who will fight for your rights is vital.
Our experienced Chicago and Skokie divorce attorneys can help and also work with clients in Evanston, Des Plaines, Park Ridge, Mount Prospect, Elk Grove Village, Glenview, Niles, Prospect Heights, Northbrook, Wheeling, Winnetka, Arlington Heights, Riverside, Rosemont, Glencoe, Morton Grove, Rolling Meadows, and Wilmette.
Divorce is a stressful and upsetting experience, but you are not alone. Please contact Gordon & Perlut, LLC at (312) 360-0250.