After my last post and my recent uncomfortable experience, I thought it would be useful to know HOW to talk to young kids about divorce. Whether its you and your husband going through one, family members, friends or a movie or tv show, here are some useful tips I found to explain the rather serious matter to little ones:
1. Keep it short and simple – lengthy elaborations can be lost on tots, instead say something like: “A divorce is when two people who are married stop being married. They do this because they aren’t happy living together anymore.”
2. Honesty counts – If the divorce is yours, make sure you tell your child why (“we were fighting too much/making each other sad”) AND always say that it ISNT their fault and thet you’ll both always love them.
3. Talk about it – You need to help the child understand what is going on and dispel as much fears as you can from them by continuing to talk and answer questions when they ask.
4. No blaming – If its happening to you, dont make it seem like your partner was the baddie (even if he was – well, to a point.). Same goes for friends, family and so on. Negative comments can do damage to a child, if that child has a relationship with the person in question.
Originally posted on September 17, 2006 @ 7:37 pm
