Did Your Divorce Cause A Breakdown In Your Relationship With Your Child?

A child’s development is greatly dependent upon the bond they have with both parents. That bond provides the child with the framework for how they view themselves and the world around them. Perhaps more importantly, that bond will determine how well they form relationships with others throughout their life. Situations may occur that cause this bond to be broken:

• A parent’s physical or mental state may keep him/her from being able to relate to the child or take into consideration the child’s needs. Such illness as, depression, bipolar disorder, drug and alcohol addictions may cause impairments that make difficult for the child to maintain a relationship with the parent.

• A divorce and the conflict that may come with it can disrupt a child’s life. The child might become hostile toward either or both of their parents if they feel the parent is failing to meet their need for security. Normally such situations resolve themselves quickly. However, there are times when anger, hurt feelings and conflict can cause a long-lasting estrangement between parent and child.

• One parent may deliberately attempt to cause a rift between their child and the other parent. When a parent purposefully alienates a child from a parent without intervention the chances of rebuilding the child/parent bond grows increasing difficult as time goes by.

• A parent who isn’t able to handle emotional pain and anger in a constructive way may distance himself/herself from the child to keep from having to deal with...read more about healing the parent child relationship