are suddenly changed and their parents continue arguing about them children can become stressed. This stress may manifest itself in difficulties in school, problems connecting with friends and at worst, anxiety and depression.
A sign of extreme difficulty occurs when the parents call their lawyers to make or carry out parenting decisions instead of being able to make those decisions themselves. When this begins to happen several times a week, a co-parenting specialist may be called for. This is a mental health professional who meets with the parents together if possible or separately if the parents can’t sit together in the same room.
When co-parenting begins to take shape, children once again feel they have two parents to rely on to guide them and support them in their lives. Struggles about moving between two houses, complaints told by one parent about the other and tears and frustrations in one or both households diminish considerably.
Laurie Hollman, Ph.D., is a psychoanalyst who practices adult, adolescent, child and parent-infant psychotherapy at 1 Wawapek Rd., Cold Spring Harbor, NY 11724.
