The idea that something positive can come out of an event as disruptive as divorce seems inconceivable. However, it can become a “good” option if it means removing the child from an environment filled with chronic conflict.
While it is challenging to consider divorce in this new light, couples contemplating or already in the middle of the process can use this change in perspective to help make things more bearable and worth it in the long run.
Divorce can protect the child
While the divorce does not feel favorable now, it still significantly impacts the child’s future. Although children of divorce display adverse behaviors during current disputes between their parents, relevant studies reveal that they tend to bounce back after around a year and grow up as well-adjusted adults.
Thus, divorce can safeguard the child when:
- Parents model a civil yet healthy relationship despite the lack of marital commitment or intimacy.
- Parents find a renewed purpose in life, extending to how they treat or nurture their child.
- The child feels secure in both parties’ consistent presence and affection despite spending time with each parent separately.
- The child feels happier and more hopeful seeing an amicable connection between their parents.
- The child feels empowered to learn from their parents’ experience and create stable relationships of their own.
If both parties act with more profound empathy, they can make the necessary compromises to make things work. Doing so can promote the child’s present and future best interests.
A future-driven mindset can heal a family
Families can heal from divorce more quickly when future-centric benefits outweigh its short-term drawbacks. They can learn to endure the temporary pain to achieve permanent peace. Instead of looking back at traumatic memories, they can look forward together to what lies ahead. However, when things go sideways and disputes escalate, involved parties can turn to their Pennsylvania legal advocate to uphold their child’s well-being.
