preview

Tips On How To Tell Your Kids About Your Divorce

Decent Essays
Open Document

When you’ve finally decided that you’re getting a divorce, you probably immediately begin to worry about how to tell your kids. It’s one of the most dreaded divorce-related conversations that have ever occurred. No one wants to hurt their children and when it comes to divorce, it seems impossible not to. Are you ready to tell your children about your upcoming divorce or legal separation? It’s a difficult conversation, but it’s also a chance to make sure they know that you love them and that, as a family, you’re going to continue meeting their needs and answering their questions. When it’s time to have the sit down with your children, consider making it a family meeting if at all possible.

Tips on How to Tell Your Kids About Your Divorce:
1. First and foremost, make sure the divorce or legal separation …show more content…

Discuss it with your partner beforehand. Put aside any hurt and anger for the time being in order to make decisions together regarding the details you need to share with your children.
3. Having the discussion together with both parents sends a positive message to your kids that you’re capable of working together for their benefit.
4. Tell all of the children at one time – you don’t want one child spreading the news to other children before you have a chance to talk to them personally.
5. Stay calm and avoid any inclinations towards “blaming.” Avoid any tendency to say whose “fault” this is at all. Try to use the word “we” when discussing and explaining the decisions that have been made regarding the divorce.
6. Provide your kids with a reason for what is happening; not specifics as that is not appropriate, but a general reason. They will want to know why.
7. Provide details about the changes that will be happening as a result of the divorce that will affect the children. They will want to know where they’re going to live, who they’re going to live with and what is going to change about their lives. Be honest about what you know and what you don’t know

Get Access