A broken home can have a lot of negative impacts on those involved, but nobody is affected quite as much as the children in those homes. With the brain still developing, the homes they grow up in can have serious impacts on their life as they move towards adulthood.
MENTAL HEALTH:
One of the biggest impacts it has on children is on their mental health. Anxiety can become incredibly problematic for the child and it could pass on into their adult life. They may begin to suffer from fear of separation (separation anxiety) when they get used to a parent not being around. The problem with anxiety is that in children, it can often be passed off as being shy. However, if the child does not receive the proper care or counseling, it may begin to take over their whole life. Minimal tasks like socializing with people at school or sitting in a classroom can become so mentally straining on a child when they suffer from anxiety. It is important to remind your child daily that they are not at fault for divorce or separation because more often than not, the child is already blaming themselves.
While it may tough to believe, children can also suffer from depression. This again relates to them believing that the broken home is their fault. They begin to keep all their emotions inside and feel that negative things are always their faults. When a child suppresses their feelings and keeps their negative feelings bottled up, it can lead to full-blown depression later on in life. They can begin to separate themselves from the people around them and will start losing interest in their hobbies or activities. If you see this, be sure to do everything you can to reach out and offer them a safe place to express their feelings. Bottling up emotions can be detrimental to their mental health later on in life.
EDUCATION:
Receiving a good education is important to the development of a child. Being in school can already be a stressful, uncomfortable situation for some children. Once their safe place at home feels compromised, their schooling can start to be impacted too. Instead of focusing on their school work or paying attention in class, their minds are now wandering and bouncing all over the place. The child’s normal routine has now become unstable, they may be missing classes due to court dates, moving around a lot, changing schools, missing their parents, and so on. The point is that the broken home will make the child’s mind wander elsewhere, instead of what is in front of them. If you notice things your child is experiencing things such as poor grades, acting out more, becoming violent, or anything out of the ordinary related to their life at school, be sure to address it and try to get to the root of it.
PROBLEMS WITH ADULTS:
A child’s parents are the two most important adults in their life. They look to you for guidance, support, and love. When one of their parents is no longer around, or even just around less, the trust with adults could begin to diminish. They begin to trust all adults less, the parents, the teachers, and so on. This could affect future relationships with all adult figures in their life and could again stunt development in dealing with emotions and building healthy relationships.
GROWING UP TOO FAST:
When a child is growing up in a broken home, they may begin to have more responsibilities in the house. They begin to have more chores to help clean up around the house, or when they’re older, they may have been forced to start working full time if financial support is missing in the home. Things like this take away a kid’s childhood, and they don’t get to be a “child” for the proper amount of time. Kids getting to be kids allows them to learn skills in friendship, relationship building, socializing, and finding their interests and hobbies in life. If a child has the pressure of too much responsibility at a young age, they never get to fully develop and find their true selves.