Crossroads of Parenting and Divorce
(5 Steps to Prevent Divorce Abuse)
(Four (4) to Six (6) hour Session)
Overview:
Crossroads of Parenting & Divorce offers parents, community leaders, educators, and the legal system a new and unique way to address the concerns of divorcing families. Regardless of family structure, children need parents who are committed to creating a two-home environment devoted to the well-being of every family member. During the divorce process, as parents struggle to restructure their family, they are often unaware of how their negative response to divorce may jeopardize their child’s well-being. Many parents inadvertently create an emotionally abusive environment. The result is divorce abuse.
Divorce abuse occurs when parents:
- put their child in the middle of their divorce warfare.
- refuse to value the other parent and extended family.
- interfere with the time their child spends with the other parent.
- count on their child to provide emotional support for them.
- use their own children as pawns to get what they want from the other parent.
- fight to win.
- attempt to control the other parent.
- refuse to communicate or to develop a cooperative co-parenting relationship.
This seminar is designed to help parents remain child-focused and make choices that minimize emotional abuse.
Overall Goal:
The overall emphasis of this seminar is to provide children with the opportunity to grow in a home environment without being caught in the middle of their parents’ hostility by eliminating the parental behaviors that cause divorce abuse.
Benefits:
In the Crossroads of Parenting & Divorce seminar, parents learn to accept responsibility for their actions, including those that contribute to the emotional abuse of their children. Therefore, this seminar benefits children by:
- reducing their symptoms of stress as parental conflict decreases.
- diminishing their sense of being caught in loyalty binds.
- creating a more relaxed home environment.
- increasing the likelihood of keeping two active parents in their lives.
enhancing confidence and self-esteem by fostering an optimal environment for growth.
The Crossroads of Parenting & Divorce seminar benefits parents by:
- assisting them as they shift their role from partners to co-parents.
- helping them recognize the importance of their own recovery.
- educating them about the negative impact of parental conflict on children’s development.
- introducing them to communication techniques, conflict-resolution skills, and children’s issues in divorce.
- helping them parent their children effectively during and after the divorce.
- helping them recognize that their child has a bond with both parents.
- fostering sensitivity to their child’s needs.
- focusing on present child-rearing issues rather than past marital issues.
Learning Objectives of the Seminar:
Parents who participate in the in the Crossroads of Parenting & Divorce seminar will learn to:
- understand how divorce impacts their children.
- identify “divorce abuse”.
- put their own feelings aside for their child’s best interest.
- avoid divorce abuse by following five steps for prevention.
- recognize how parental conflict negatively influences children.
- take responsibility for their own behaviors.
- recognized the importance of their child having both parents in his or her life.
- value the other parent.
- disengage from their former spouse and realign as co-parents.
- understand that when they make negative comments about the parent, they damage their child’s self-esteem
Dates, Times and Location of Training: TBD