Divorce After 20 Years Marriage
How do you explain divorce to a 7 year old child?
My mother and step-father are divorcing after 20 years of marriage.
I’ll tell you how I have had to handle it, Don’t know if it helps. I sat my niece down when her Mom and Dad went through a divorce. I explained to her that sometimes she has had best friends that she thought would be friends for life, then for some reason, other people and other circumstances came and she and her friends started moving apart. She still liked the her friend, but they weren’t as close any more. Now she had new friends that she thinks will be friends for life. I asked her how many best friends for life she has ever had. We spent a few minutes talking about each of them and how she still cares, but they have grown apart. I explained to her that it happens with grownups too. When she faced it this way, she could empathize with her parents. It still hurt some, but not as much because she now could understand and not blame herself. She was 8 when this happened.
Hope it helps