Making Co-Parenting Easier
You can ease the challenge of co-parenting with an ex-spouse by planning ahead and seeking professional help if necessary. Here are five tips to help make co-parenting easier post-divorce. By Brian James When parents divorce, it is the beginning of a new partnership in co-parenting their children. Co-parenting goes much more smoothly when there is a plan in place; it assures that no matter how you feel about your ex-spouse, the children's interests will come first. It's important to determine if you and your ex-spouse are comfortable enough to communicate directly about co-parenting i...
Life after Divorce: How to Tell When You’re Stuck
Life after divorce is challenging, especially for a single parent. Here are signs that you might be "stuck." By Carolyn Ellis Divorce is a game-changer and can turn your whole world upside down quickly. It’s easy to lose sight of the forest for the trees. Without creating a big picture for our lives (the forest), it’s easy to get stuck in the daily issues of being a single parent (the trees). All parents have a lot on their plates, but single parents have additional responsibilities. For you, life can be a blur of managing your children, rebuilding your life, dealing with your ex,...
How Divorce Affects Teenagers – Part 2
When parents divorce and children are subjected to negative changes as a result, the experience can be very painful for their children. Learn how divorce affects teenagers, how to recognize that your teenager may be having trouble coping with divorce in your family, and some helpful steps you can take to ensure that they to grow up to be happy, healthy adults. By Donald A. Gordon Ph.D. and Jack Arbuthnot Ph.D. How to Help Your Teenager: Provide consistent supervision. Most parents need to improve certain parenting skills; this is true even if a marriage is solid. The preteen and t...
How Divorce Affects Young Children
Young children aged six to eight years often have very strong emotional responses to divorce and need support from their parents to cope with these emotions. With these strategies, you can learn how divorce affects young children and help your children adjust to life after divorce. By Donald A. Gordon Ph.D. and Jack Arbuthnot Ph.D. Children aged six to eight years old respond most often with grief. They express their grief through crying and sobbing; this happens with boys more than with girls. They also feel a deep yearning for the absent parent. The children will miss that parent inten...
How Divorce Affects Teenagers
When parents divorce and children are subjected to negative changes as a result, the experience can be very painful for their children. Learn how divorce affects teenagers, how to recognize that your teenager may be having trouble coping with divorce in your family, and get some helpful steps you can take to ensure that they to grow up to be happy, healthy adults By Donald A. Gordon Ph.D. and Jack Arbuthnot Ph.D. Most parents ask themselves some hard questions when they split up. Parents wonder what the break-up will do to their children. Will the children understand what’s going on? ...
How Divorce Affects Preteens
With greater emotional maturity under their belt, how divorce affects preteens who are in the 9-12-year-old range differs from how is affects younger children. Here’s how to help your pre-teenage son or daughter cope with issues related to divorce and children. By Donald A. Gordon Ph.D. and Jack Arbuthnot Ph.D. Preteens – children aged 9-12 – have a different and more mature response to a divorce than younger children. This age group is more advanced in their thinking, and they are able to see many points of view in the matter. Most of these preteens can understand some of the rea...
How Blended Families Differ from Nuclear Families
Just because you’ve found someone you love after divorce and want to spend the rest of your days with doesn’t mean your children will be so loving or excited about the new stepfamily. There are some important differences between a blended family and a nuclear family that can help you get your stepfamily off on the right footing. By Jeffrey Cottrill Although blended families, or stepfamilies, have become much more common and accepted in recent years, people still fall into the trap of expecting them to run on automatic. The most frequent mistake that people make when marrying into ste...
The 5 Phases of Separating Emotionally from Your Ex-Spouse
Recovering from getting divorced is very similar to the grieving process we experience when a loved one dies. You may re-cycle through these phases throughout the process of coping with divorce and separating emotionally from your ex-spouse. By Carolyn Ellis Going through separation and divorce can feel like a death – and in many ways it is the death of a lot of dreams, hopes and aspirations you had. Recovering from and coping with divorce is very similar to the grieving process we experience when a loved one dies. We lose an important part of our life. The divorce process has five ...
What to Do When You and Your Ex Have Different Parenting Styles
Co-parenting your children after divorce often shows how different your parenting style is from your ex. Here’s how to manage the potential conflicts and confusion different parenting styles can cause. By Carolyn Ellis Different homes may mean different parenting styles. Different rules about bedtimes, homework and household chores between mom’s house and dad’s house can make clashes and conflicts inevitable when co-parenting with your ex. When you were married or living together, parents typically assume a “united front” in parenting to provide consistency and clarity for t...
Why Having a Vision for Your Life After Divorce is So Important
You will be co-parenting with your ex for as long as you have children. Having a vision for life after divorce is a powerful tool to help you live your life on your own terms. Here’s why! By Carolyn Ellis You will be co-parents with your ex for as long as you have children. Don’t let yourself be constrained by the current state of your relationship or worries about how you’re going to achieve your vision for your life after divorce. Vision is a powerful tool for everyone, from single moms and divorced dads to CEOs and everyone in between. Businesses, governments, and other large...