Career and Kids

Hurricane Katrina Still Hurting Local Kids

by mike on October 10th, 2006

The stress from Hurricane Katrina is causing a spike in the divorce rate in the area which is causing tormoil to the kids involved.  In addition to having their house, city, and life turned upside down by the disaster, they now have to deal with what happens if their parents get divorced.

The article brings up some very interesting points about children going through divorce and separation that I never thought about before.

Young children can be confused about where their things will be and when they will see each parent.

Needing to know when they will see their parents seems pretty obvious to me.  But, needing that security of knowing where their clothes, toys, and bed are going to be might slip through the cracks during the crisis.  These objects might even become more significant when the parents’ future seems uncertain.  All kids deserve that sense of stability.

This quote about why parents should not criticize the ex in front of the kids really got me:

If you criticize your child’s other parent you’re criticizing that child’s DNA literally aren’t you? That child is that other parent and to put them down is putting that child down, it’s a terrible thing to do.

I think it would be safe to say that kids whose parents cause a divorce by cheating or some other seemingly one-sided manner would probably have to spend some time wondering what that means about themselves if they are the child of that parent.

All of which just reinforces the importance of keeping in touch with your kids no matter how difficult of a time you are going through.  They need to know they are loved.  They need to know they are not responsible for the problems.  They need to know what is going to happen to their stuff…and to the relationship with their parents.  And, all of that needs to happen immediately.  You cannot wait a significant amount of time and then hope to magically fix that relationship with your kids.

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POSTED IN: Raising Kids