The Effects of a Broken Marriage
A marriage ending is a turbulent time for everyone involved. Unfortunately, it does not often happen amicably and it is certainly a time of big change.
Effects on a child
For those couples splitting up who have children, things get even tougher. While parents are going through their own grief and turmoil they may not have the time, energy or attention to care sufficiently for the child and what they are going through. For that reason, it can be an isolating time for children.
About 42% of marriages in the UK currently end in divorce, of that many will have children. From experience in rehabilitation, we have seen that the chances of those children experimenting with drugs and alcohol rises.
Danger
When people, children included, have problems and situations that they don’t know how to solve, drugs and alcohol are often turned to. When parents are the normal go-to for help and they are no longer around or as supportive, a child can feel left without a they don't have a lifeline.
Sometimes it is assumed that children aren’t fully aware of what’s going on, or are coping all right, but this can be widely overestimated. A family is a solid base on which a child’s life is built, when that is rocked, the whole world can shake.
Feelings of guilt and blame can enter into it too. Though as an adult you know that a child is not at fault, the child does not.
Drugs and alcohol are reachable to children, whether medication or alcohol in the cupboard or pills and drinks after school, they are in easy reach, so don’t fool yourself on that.
Handling
The best handling for these situations is to not discount how a child feels, but to get into communication with them, find out what they are going through, let them talk about it, and have time no matter how you yourself feel. Do this if you are planning on separating, are undergoing a divorce, or if it happened in the past. The more you do now, the better the chance, the child will not resort to bad solutions such as drugs.
Drugs and alcohol are often turned to turn to when one feels alone, so make sure your children don’t feel alone.
