Kids may bear the devastating brunt of their parents’ divorces more than anyone and sometimes even more than the couples themselves. Family law in British Columbia always considers what is best for the children in family situations. Children are very perceptive and they can be adversely affected by the parents’ anger toward each other, so when parents also consider what’s best for their kids, they may think again before displaying animosity or angry feelings toward each other in front of their children.
Putting a child in the line of parents’ crossfire is never healthy for anyone, especially not for the child. Research has shown that kids are affected by how their parents handle conflict and the outfall from this can affect a child well into adulthood, perhaps even for life. Those areas that most negatively affect children are when parents speak negatively about each other, displays of violence or unhealthy outbursts of anger from parents, asking children to relay messages between parents, or forbidding children to mention one parent to another.
Many children mimic what they see their parents doing. If those are negatives, a child may act out in different ways. It could affect his or her entire life, including his or her time at school and interactions with other children. Children should never be included in conversations that should only be for adult ears. Letting a child know that a divorce is not his or her fault and that he or she will always be loved by both parents will go a long way to ensuring a child grows up to be an emotionally healthy adult.
A British Columbia family law lawyer may be able to help a client to go through the divorce process with as little stress as possible. Separation and divorce is difficult, to say the least. However, a lawyer may be able to assist a client who has children in making the process as painless as possible through various means such as mediation or a collaborative process even when there are problematic issues.