If you and your spouse recently decided to divorce or are questioning whether or not you should pursue a divorce, you may understandably have concerns about how your decision making will ultimately affect your children and teens. The divorce process can be temporarily traumatic for everyone affected by it. However, this trauma is indeed often temporary. In many cases, the ultimate outcomes of divorce can benefit both the adults and the children affected by the process.
We frequently write about the ways in which divorce may ultimately benefit adults and children. Children and teens are generally given greater opportunities to thrive in households where happy and healthy adults reside. If parental relationships are consistently tense and unhealthy, children and teens can be negatively affected. Similarly, living in a happy and healthy blended household can be beneficial for children and teens too.
This reality can be comforting as you look to the future. If you hope to marry again at some point down the road, you may take heart in the idea that if you develop a happy, healthy romantic relationship with another partner that your kids and teens may benefit from this arrangement. Divorce from your current spouse does not need to spell the end of your romantic life while your children remain young. The idea that all stepparent and stepsibling relationships are tense and/or toxic is a myth.
How can blended family living benefit kids and teens specifically? Please check back in next week as we will be continuing our discussion on this important topic in a future post.
Source: The Huffington Post, “8 Things Kids Learn From Growing Up In A Blended Family,” Brittany Wong, May 29, 2015