When parenting is not coordinated, important tasks start to fall through the cracks: unreturned clothing, school information not shared, homework assignments not turned in, missed activities, checkups and dental appointments, and so on.
As failures pile up, your child’s ability to keep up is diminished. When parental relations are dysfunctional, decisions aren’t made that parents would otherwise make in informed and thoughtful ways. The child’s well-being is managed by chance instead of intentional decision-making. All children, and especially your child, deserve better.
Fault-finding between parents generates conflict that pulls their child into their arguments. Young children in particular feel they are to blame when their parents are arguing about them. Studies verify that parents significantly underestimate the extent to which children are affected by parental conflict.
Exposure to parental conflict increases a child’s anxiety substantially. Repeated conflict exposes a child to chronic stress which impacts a child’s health and can adversely affect normal child development. Much has been written about the effects of parental conflict on children and none of the consequences are things you want to tolerate for your child. It doesn’t have to continue.
About Kathleen Bird
