Every divorce in Colorado is different, as no two families are exactly the same. How children respond to a divorce can depend on a number of things, including their personalities and how their parents choose to handle the separation. However, age is certainly a consideration as younger children and older children may look at the situation differently.
As the Huffington Post points out, children who are over the age of six are usually in school full-time, and news of a divorce can impact their educational performance. Acting out may occur in ways such as instigating fights and breaking the rules. Others may withdraw inward and may lose interest in completing their school work. Children of this age group also are capable of understanding more about the divorce and may even choose to side with one parent or the other out of anger. They may also harbor false hopes of their parents reconciling.
Younger children, on the other hand, such as those who are toddlers and pre-school aged, may not fully comprehend the concept of a divorce. According to LiveScience, children of that age are still forming attachments to their parents. One study found that adults whose parents divorced when they were very young reported weaker attachments to their parents and higher feelings of resentment. If the child only lived with one parent after the divorce, the attachment to that parent was much stronger compared to the non-custodial parent.
Parents may be reassured to hear, however, that it does not appear that the feelings adults whose parents divorced harbor toward their parents negatively impact their own romantic relationships.
Tags: Divorce
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