A divorce is an emotional process that becomes more challenging when you have children. Even after you finalize your divorce, you must work together with your ex-spouse to co-parent.
Many factors can strain your co-parenting relationship, affecting your custody settlement and your bond with your children.
What is parental alienation?
Parental alienation happens your spouse or ex-spouse attempts to turn your children against you. If your co-parent speaks poorly of you, it can damage your family relationships. Sometimes people do this intentionally to try to turn the children against the other parent. Other times, it is an unintentional result of stress, frustration and high emotions.
What are signs that your co-parent is alienating your children from you?
If you notice some of the following, your ex-spouse may be distorting your children’s view of you:
- Your children criticize everything you do without reason
- Your children have only positive support for your co-parent and only negative feelings toward you
- Your children also have negative views of your extended family members
- Your children sound like they are repeating statements they have heard
- Your children refer to events they are too little to remember
Do you have legal options to fight parental alienation?
When your co-parent continually makes malicious statements about you to your children, it damages your connection and has harmful effects on them. If you feel this is occurring, you may be able to modify your custody arrangement or take other legal actions to prevent your children from further psychological damage.
Co-parenting presents many challenges, but it is essential to protect the well-being of your children regardless of your differences with your ex-spouse.