This picture brings back wonderful memories of hours at the park with my brother and sisters. Sometimes we would play hide and seek. Sometimes we would play in the dirt. Sometimes we would race each other “to the tree and back.” It was fun to jump on a merry-go-round like this and spin and spin until I would have to jump off and get my bearings and try not to throw up. I still can’t spin without getting sick!
For about 15 years, I have ministered to the children of divorce and their world is just like this merry-go-round. From the moment they are told their family is being shattered, they live on a merry-go-round. They have lost their intact family, they won’t have a home anymore; just dad’s and moms’ houses, they are passed back and forth between parents who have different rules, lifestyles and parenting skills. Where do they belong?! They just can’t get their bearings either!
Usually, these children will begin to get lower grades, be more emotional (depressed or angry), isolate themselves, and they don’t know how to be loyal to both parents. In the worst of circumstances, these kids sit right in the middle of arguments and fights, so they end up thinking this family turmoil is their fault. The damage is enormous to these children and it makes you wonder how it happened between two adults who vowed their love and commitment at a wedding. How did it go so wrong?! I have had many children cry to me, “Ms. Robyn, why didn’t my parents love me enough to work it out?!”
Young adults whose parents have divorced are now afraid to make vows at their own wedding, so they live together and struggle with relationships. How can we help these damaged children? How can we help them feel wanted, loved, secure and worthy of a healthy life???
This Tuesday, November 8, at 2-3pm ET, author, speaker and developer of Divorce Care For Kids (dc4k), Linda Ranson-Jacobs will be our guest on Chained No More Talk Radio. This is an encore presentation for our listeners to hear again just how parents and others can help these kids as they suffer through the divorce of their parents. This interview is full of advice and practical tools that will help listeners understand how kids feel. Don’t miss it! You can listen at www.toginet.com.