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How To End A Marriage With Kids: 6 Tips For Parenting Through Divorce
There is no such thing as an easy divorce, but ending a marriage with kids can be particularly messy and painful. Parents provide the floor under their children's feet, and divorce often pulls that floor out from underneath them. It can leave a child feeling rootless and terrified.
I know those feelings well from my own childhood: from the age of four, my mother wasn't able to care for us. I grew up on very shaky ground, moving to new homes and cities, with a father who was divorced three times by the end of my teens.
When it came to my own divorce, I wanted a different experience. My ex-husband and and I wanted to put our children first. We both loved being parents to our children, so we wanted to remain a family in every way possible while living in two homes. We were ending our marriage, not ending our family.
A child's universe does not need to be decimated just because the two adults in charge of them are changing the form of their relationship. Here are some tips for anyone ending a marriage with kids who don't wish to end their family.
Really understand your marriage (and divorce) before you pull the trigger.
It's essential to understand your marriage with your partner, including why you came together and why you need to come apart. Couples therapy or individual therapy can be immensely helpful for gaining perspective on your reasons for divorce, as can talking to other divorced people about their experiences with ending a marriage.
Digging deep into the impact of divorce before moving out can help you feel sure about your decision and ease the process. This process will also help you figure out how best to communicate the emotional message to your kids, in addition to explaining the seismic logistical shifts that will be happening.
Explore what your new family structure should look like.
Explore and try out alternative ways of structuring your new family system before making any final decisions. Consider trying a temporary separation, one that's less like taking a break and more like doing a test drive. My ex-husband and I tried a four-month period of what we called "nesting" to discover what a separation really felt like before making a final decision to divorce. This will help you and your partner, but it will also make the shift more gradual for your children.
Be thoughtful about your new homes.
Consider staying as close as possible to each other while maintaining appropriate boundaries. My ex-husband and I kept our homes four blocks from each other as another way to make the change more gradual. We did this to avoid creating a feeling of real "distance" to our children.
Additionally, put effort into the details to create cozy environments for everyone. We were committed to ensuring that both homes were properly set up and comfortable for the kids. This included furniture, toys, bedding, and blankets they liked to sleep with at night and so on.
Create and maintain clear, consistent boundaries.
Boundaries are important to keep consistency — both for the parents and the children. You and your ex-spouse should feel able to start your new, separate lives, while also continuing to make your child feel secure and grounded.
One way to do this is to create and agree on a very clear and consistent parenting schedule. Be extremely vigilant about maintaining a consistent rhythm in your children's lives so there is never the question of "Who's house am I staying at tonight?"
Consider a shared credit card.
Divorced couples often argue about expenses and create more work for themselves with receipts, canceled checks, and bank statements. It can be helpful to keep an itemized list of all expenses, but to make things easier, consider sharing one credit card for all expenses to help with transparency and accountability. My ex and I share one credit card for all kid-related expenses — but with a limit on what one can spend without running it past the other.
Have a system for communicating.
Set up a system that cuts down on the day-to-day communication that might incite emotional drama. We adopted a Google calendar system to invite each other to any task or event that relates to the kids. This allows us to avoid missed emails, forgetfulness, and miscommunications about logistics, which often cause friction. We're all busy. Juggling kids is hard enough when married and living in the same house! Keep it simple.
"Family" is a place in our hearts, not a street address. As co-parents of these precious kids that we chose to bring into the world, it's imperative that we keep expanding our definition of family and love, so our kids feel at home no matter where they go.
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