How Do Children React to Divorce

Not all children react in the same way, however there are certain symptoms which are commonly seen in children after their parents divorce. Since children are generally feeling confused, worried, and angry they many times begin to cry more often. Older children may develop headaches, stomachaches. Young children often regress to earlier stages of development. Bed-wetting or thumb-sucking may re-appear. Aggression may increase, school grades may go down.

Parents almost always use “denial” in some way when it comes to the suffering of their children. “They’ll get over it”, “They won’t even remember it”, “They’ll bounce back” are ways of dealing with childhood trauma. A universal impulse is to “put it all behind us”. Whereas there are some advantages to this thinking (and taking the opposite stand would cetainly not be helpful) - it is important to understand that the changes divorce imposes on children are deep and encompass many aspects of life.

It takes real selflessness for parents to put aside their own stress and trauma during divorce when considering their children.