Child therapy for divorce is available at Wisdom Within Counseling. We offer art, yoga, music, and creative therapies to help children process anxiety, loss, and change. Anger and frustration are common emotions after divorce and separation. Blending families can also bring up new emotions from moving in together and those changes. Counseling for children and families can help this time of change be more smooth. Also, therapy can help co-parents stay calm and peaceful and not bring children into divorce conflicts.
Four Books To Help Your Child Overcome Divorce
When parents are going through a divorce, children may express frustration, anger, and a number of other emotions.
Use these four books to help your child process your divorce, the loss, and the new change in your family.
“When Mom and Dad Separate” by Marge Eaton Heegaard
This book allows your child to project their feelings into this workbook through art. Your child can draw in the book or on a separate sheet of paper. It talks about, “What Is Marriage? What Is Love? How Do Two People Show Love?” I also like how this book says that parents may fight and say terrible things, and sometimes, parents say things they don’t mean, to their children or to each other, and have to apologize to each other. This book also explains a lot of different feelings.
In counseling, your child can draw out their worry, fear, and gives a space for emotional expression.
To begin, click below for a phone consult for help with anxiety, anger, and loss through child therapy for divorce.
“Two Homes” by Claire Masurel
This is a great book for a 5 year old, or a little younger or older. I love this book because it explains to a child that they can have a favorite stuffed animal at mom’s and a favorite stuffed animal at dad’s. It looks at setting up a safe, inviting, warm space in both newly divorced parent’s homes. “A rocking chair at mom and a cozy chair at dad’s,” can be part of what you create with your child in your new apartment or home.
“I Don’t Want To Talk About It” by Jeanie Franz Ransom
This is an awesome book for children who don’t want to talk about the divorce. This is a perfect book for a child who also may not have the vocabulary, ability, or brain development to explain their feelings. It is really colorful and helps to validate the feelings deep inside your child who doesn’t want to talk.
Child therapy for divorce helps children process loss, anger and betrayal.
It makes it okay to not want to talk about the divorce. It has colorful pictures! Oftentimes, parents want their young child to talk all about their feelings in an intellectual way. However, when children are forced to talk, they feel overwhelmed with all of their new feelings and often resort to frustration and rage. As well, when asked to directly process through talking, they also feel like they have to pick sides. This is why play therapy is essential for children who are going through a parent’s divorce. Read more, here.
“When Dinosaurs Divorce” by Laurie Krasny Brown
This is a perfect book for an older child or adolescent, around age 9 or 10 years old. It goes over some deeper topics- Sometimes, one parent may have been drinking a large amount of alcohol, and this is why the divorce happened. This book is super colorful, looks like a comic book, and is great for children who love looking at pictures. It shows the dinosaurs looking at a calendar and normalizes the new schedule of sleeping at a certain parent’s house on one day and then the other parent’s house on other days. This book also does a great job of explaining vocabulary words such as, alimony and step-parent. Additionally, it reframes positively new changes, such as having two birthday parties and Christmas’s, one at mom’s and one at dad’s.
Here’s the full video!
Online and in person in East Lyme, Mystic, and Niantic, we help couples, children and teenagers in neighboring towns.
In other Connecticut towns, we offer video counseling in Connecticut to families in Portland, Berlin, Bethany, Bethel, Bethlehem, Milford, Kent, Bloomfield, East Hampton, Southington, Haddam, Litchfield, Simsbury, Fairfield, Cobalt, Marlborough, Cromwell, Canton, Avon, Rocky Hill, West Hartford, Clinton, Wethersfield, Middlebury, Rye, New Canaan, Cheshire, Waterbury, Guilford, Chester, Deep River, Moodus, Durham, and Middletown, Connecticut. We help families in Connecticut in Bozrah, Waterford, Old Lyme, Ivoryton, Griswold, Darien, Centerbrook, Westbrook, Essex, East Lyme, Newington, Shelton, South Windsor, Granby, Franklin, Branford, Griswold, Groton, Ledyard, Suffield, Lisbon, Montville, Bristol, Stratford, Hartland, Glastonbury, Colchester, East Haddam, Hadlyme, Hamburg, Enfield, Old Saybrook, Riverside, Westport, Ridgefield, and Madison, Connecticut. As well, we help couples and families in Milford, Connecticut in Forest Heights, Fort Trumbull, Baldwins Crossing, Silver Beach, Naugatuck Gardens, Bayview, Oronoque, Johnsons Corner, Connecticut.
Written By
Katie Ziskind, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, RTY500 provides experiential therapy in Niantic, CT. At Wisdom Within Counseling, Katie helps frustrated children and teens build confidence, and feel worthy enough to belong by integrating art, yoga, music, and animal therapy with traditional talk therapy- so they can live a life they LOVE! Furthermore, the animal therapy groups teach skills such as self-regulation, trust, and social emotional learning.
