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Attorneys Vic Hill and Brad MacDonald

Noncustodial parents should stay in their children’s lives

All parents with minor children, whether in Georgia or elsewhere, usually suffer a multitude of worries about the effect of the divorce trauma on the children. Truth be told, however, there are no lasting scars or permanent psychological deficits that the children must suffer. Many highly successful people came from a divorced household. Both parents, including noncustodial parents, can ease the burden on the children by remaining involved and by showing that the bond of love remains strong.

A recent article stresses some of the factors that will help the children transition appropriately. It is important, first of all, to maintain a stable home environment for them. Normal routines should not be disrupted, and the steps that usually occur during the course of a day should continue to occur.

As much as one would like to throw disciplinary protocols to the winds in the face of a child who is experiencing his or her parents’ divorce, the best policy is to maintain the same standards that existed prior to the trauma. The child must experience that the current obstacle does not provide an excuse to become lax in school work or other responsibilities. After all, obstacles will continue throughout life, and the best experience is to learn that life goes on in the face of adversity. It’s important for a parent not to try and change his or her personality or to show a certain affectation because of the divorce trauma.

The children will feel far more secure to know that their same mom and dad are still there intact, the same as before. Additionally, each parent must at least give outward support to the credibility and authority of the other. A parent should not disparage the other nor try to keep him or her out of the children’s lives, except where there is actual danger to the children. In fact, that is how the Georgia courts will enforce the situation. Moreover, one of the important regrets given by adults who survived divorce situations in childhood was that they would have liked more of an effort from their noncustodial parents.

Source: The Huffington Post, “5 Reminders for Divorced Moms and Dads“, Meerabelle Dey, April 4, 2015