Divorce Mediation Can Be Better for Your Children

If you’re getting divorced, the most valuable gift for your children is to create a healthy post-divorce co-parenting relationship with your co-parent. If you can do that, your children will almost certainly do better. The best intentions may not be enough, because quality co-parenting in separate households during and after divorce requires more than just good intentions. It’s well worth the effort to do the work to create structures for smoother long-term co-parenting with your co-parent. Research shows that acrimony between parents has serious negative effects on children. Studies show that children who have exposure to parental conflict (whether or not the parents are divorced) have a significant increased risk of substance use, promiscuity, anxiety, mental and physical health issues, and lower academic achievement. Power struggles, court battles, and adversarial negotiation approaches tend to inflame power struggles and expose children to parental conflict, making it more challenging for parents to work together as effective co-parents—with your children paying the price. Divorce Mediation can provide an excellent opportunity to build a better foundation for post-divorce co-parenting structures—and a better, healthier, future for you and your children.