Are your children able to express their feelings, good or bad, about living with a single parent?
Kids often have trouble articulating what they’re feeling. They may feel hurt or sad or angry about having only one parent at home. If they can’t express these feelings, they may turn them inward, against themselves, or express them outwardly in inappropriate ways (i.e., through misbehavior).
That’s why I was happy to find a beautifully sensitive piece for younger kids entitled “Living with a Single Parent.” The article is written on their level and is so reassuring and comforting for kids who may be feeling bad about our situations.
I wasn’t able to obtain permission to reprint the article here, but I can link to it. It’s at KidsHealth.org and here’s the direct link to the article:
http://kidshealth.org/kid/feeling/home_family/single_parents.html
I wish I’d had this article to give to my son when he was younger.
KidsHealth.org has many other helpful articles for children; you might find quite a few that would be useful to you and your kids. Here’s the link:
http://kidshealth.org/kid/
If you have teenagers, there’s also a tremendous amount of well-written information for them at KidsHealth.org. This is the link to the pages for teens:
http://kidshealth.org/teen/
They even have a section for us at the site! Pages for parents may be found at:
http://kidshealth.org/parent/
KidsHealth.org is produced by The Nemours Center for Children’s Health Media, part of The Nemours Foundation, an organization created in 1936 for the purpose of improving the health of children.
It’s great to find a single source of information about our children’s physical and mental health that includes material for both parents and kids.