You and your ex-spouse are responsible for caring for your children following the divorce. What happens if your children begin to hate you for no reason? In cases involving parental alienation, one parent influences the children to reject their other parent.
According to WebMD, parental alienation not only interferes with your happiness and relationship with your children, but your children experience something similar to the loss of a parent.
What is parental alienation?
Parental alienation may appear in the form of unjust criticism. After a divorce, kids may naturally criticize or question their parents’ actions. However, in parental alienation, your children have no reason to criticize and will do so harshly. You will never see your children say anything bad about their other parent. If they have a good time with you, they may ask you to keep it a secret from your ex.
Children will not feel guilt for how they treat you. Children may lash out at their parents in a normal situation and then feel bad about it later.
How can you handle parental alienation?
You need to deal with parental alienation carefully. The court may remove your children from the other parent’s home in severe cases. However, forced reunification may feel like punishment and worsen your relationship with the kids. Your kids need to feel like they have some control. Divorce already makes children feel helpless.
In the early phase of parental alienation, the judge may order your ex to stop talking about you in front of the kids. Parenting classes and coordinators may also help you and your ex communicate with one another and support the mental health of your children.
Often kids and families involved in parental alienation require therapy.