The importance of a father's involvement in their children's life now appears to be indisputable. A recent study even revealed that there is a connection between a young girl's depression and separation from her father.
Part two: The role of grandparents after divorce
Given the fact that grandparents play such a vital role in a child's life, in our last post we focused on why grandparents should maintain relationships with their ex-son-in-laws and ex-daughter-in-laws. This is not intended to create a rift between an adult child and their parent, but rather to strengthen the bonds and maintain visitation time with grandchildren after a divorce.
Part one: The role of grandparents after divorce
When adult children get divorced, grandparents often worry about what their role is going to be. Will they get to see their grandchildren as much? Will maintaining a relationship with an ex-son-in-law or ex-daughter-in-law seem like picking sides? How should grandparents talk to their grandchildren about the divorce?
Missouri parents: Is religious upbringing in your parenting plans?
Over the years, numerous studies have looked at the effect of divorce on children. A recent study looked at how likely a child, whose parents are divorced, is to shy away from religion or change religions in the future.
Visitation schedules can create more balance between parents
It used to be that when two parents got divorced, one parent was granted primary custody and the other was given visitation time. For many parents this was quite frustrating, especially when the courts used to favor mothers. This meant that fathers often only got to see their children every other weekend and some holidays.
Missouri grandparents struggle with divorce too
Grandparents can end up playing a rather unique role during a divorce. While the grandparents want to be there for their adult child who is going through the divorce, the same grandparents also want to continue to maintain a close relationship with their grandchildren and be there for them emotionally during this time. However, while being there is one thing -- and is encouraged -- grandparents need to make sure to not overstep their boundaries.
Drug accusation leads to supervised visitation for father
Every parent should be able to spend meaningful time with their child. However, in cases where the court believes the child could be in danger if left alone with either their mother or father, the court will decide to impose supervised visitation. This can be done in cases where there is concern over the child's emotional development or physical condition if left alone with their other parent.
Study: Time with dad boosts children's self-esteem
It's important for divorced fathers to maintain a lasting relationship with their children. For not only is this something that means a lot to dads, a recent study also determined that children who spend more one-on-one time with their fathers have better self-esteem.
Child support and visitation are two separate issues
With today's current economy and many lay-offs it is not unheard of for a father to be behind on his child support payments due to financial reasons. However, when a dad is behind on these payments -- while for the custodial parent this can surely be frustrating -- this should still never be used as a reason behind limiting visitation time between a father and his child.
Dad's visitation schedule includes day of basketball title game
When creating a child custody agreement and visitation schedule, it is quite common for parents to put in requests for certain holidays. For example, maybe the kids will be with dad for Christmas, but then with mom for Easter. Or maybe spending at least half of Chanukah with the children is a must for a father. But what happens if one parent is not particularly a religious person and therefore doesn't necessarily feel as much of an attachment to specific holidays? Can this be balanced with the other parent's religious holiday requests?
