Mediation Can Help to Protect Children in Divorce

When you and your spouse decide it’s time to move ahead with a divorce, it’s not always easy to know how to protect your children from the emotional trauma of the family splitting up. Most of us know families that have gotten divorced. Some of us have even experienced a divorce in our own family when we were growing up.

The damage a divorce can have on a child is a heavy burden they may stay with them for years. It can affect many of their relationships for the rest of their lives. As a loving parent, this can feel like a situation impossible to win: either you don’t stand up for yourself in the divorce and custody negotiations, or you fight too fiercely and make yourself the bad guy.

This is a struggle thousands of parents face every year,. Take comfort in knowing that you are not at alone.

The good news is: it doesn’t have to be a bloodbath. Rather than using litigation to settle your divorce – which is often acrimonious, expensive and drawn out – you can address all of the legal issues at hand through divorce mediation.

Mediation Helps Parents Maintain Proper Perspective

With mediation, both parents work with a trained neutral mediator to find compromises that keep their children protected and cared for. The mediator is not there to serve the wants of either parent, but rather uses special training to identify ways that each parent can compromise for the good of the children at the heart of the matter.

In practice, this means reframing the entire process from one of two parties in conflict to two parties working together towards a common goal.

Mediation Offers Surprising Opportunities

Beyond meeting all the legal requirements necessary to settle a divorce, mediation also offers parents some unique opportunities to teach their children valuable lessons. With careful preparation, you and your spouse can use the mediation sessions as an opportunity to demonstrate to your children that they are loved and cared for even while you and your co-parent choose to no longer be married. You can also use this opportunity to show how adults make difficult choices for the good of those they love, even when it isn’t easy.