One of the most significant questions that people considering divorce ask themselves and others is “what effect is this divorce going to have on my children?” The expectation almost always is that it is going to have a negative effect on them, to harm them. I am here to tell you that I have witnessed on several occasions, the effects of divorce on children be positive.

I recently had a mediation that was typical of what I call my “co-parenting” mediations. At the beginning, the parties were stuck in an angry, fearful and ugly place. At first this negative energy (combined with the fighting energy of the two divorce lawyers) landed on me like blows, but I breathed through it and kept on keeping on. And by hour ten of the mediation it ended as many of my co-parenting mediations do – with a meeting of the minds, and the hearts.

As the soon-to-be-divorced couple embraced with tears freely flowing, I felt my drained countenance revive and I remembered, for the millionth time, why I do this. For deep in my heart I knew that these parties’ children were going to be the beneficiaries of that intense labor, on all of our parts, in that sacred space called mediation. These parents left communicating better than they had in years, with compassion and acceptance replacing bitterness and resentment.

One might say that it is sad or unfortunate that it took getting divorced to get these co-parents to this place, and that may be true. But these are the cases where the effects of divorce on children can be positive. And on their parents.

Tags: divorce law, child custody