Child and Parent Separation in Divorce

Adjusting to child and parent separation can be challenging, to say the least.  Not only are you entering a new stage of your life, but you also have to deal with the aspect of two homes for your child.  

As parents experience their first days and weeks without the child’s company, many are left wondering what to do with themselves.  They may be restless, agitated, have trouble sleeping or eating, and may find themselves tearful with little or no provocation.  These experiences point to the emotional adjustment that parents make to the separation process.  

To intensify matters, as parents are making their own emotional adjustment. the child is on the same course, also adjusting to the reality of separated parents, separate homes, and often a separate set of rules.  Similar to parents in the adjustment process, a child can appear agitated, depressed or anxious.  The child may have trouble sleeping or eating or even concentrating at school.  

Adjusting to the change of time with and separation from the child can be difficult. If the parents or child are finding the first days, weeks or even months particularly difficult, it is perfectly normal.  In most cases, all parties adjust and learn to live together is a different way.