Website profiles postcards of children dealing with divorce

Filed under: Emotions, Creative projects, Parental relationships, DivorceIt is common knowledge that children go through enormous emotional adjustments when their parents are getting a divorce. There are numerous ways to help children with what they are experiencing, like therapy and family counseling. A woman in Arizona recently developed a website to help children communicate their feelings about their parents. Kara Bishop, a graphic artist from Tucson, works with children in the Tucson based Divorce Recovery group. Inspired by Frank Warren's Postsecret website, Bishop created Postcards from Splitsville, a website that allows a child to send a postcard to the site, expressing what they feel while their parents are divorcing. One of the cards says, "It used to be a good thing that I look just like my mom. Now it just makes my dad sad."Those are heartbreaking words for any parent to hear, but sometimes parents might need such a jolt to realize what they are doing to their children. We all know the "rules" of divorce, like not to say bad things to the children about the other parent, not to put the children in the middle, but a lot of times, angry parents forget these rules. After seeing what children experience, Bishop hopes that parents will understand more of what their children are experiencing and try to handle the situation in a mature manner. I contacted Kara Bishop to ask her about the site, to see if she had gotten any feedback from parents, either positive or negative. She said that some of the parents had recognized cards that had been written by their children, but she had received no negative responses so far.I think this is a great idea. During my custody trial, my son drew quite often, and there were times when it helped me understand what he was experiencing. It also helped him communicate with his therapist when he was unable to find the words to describe how he was feeling. Hopefully, therapists and ad litem attorneys will take notice of this outlet for children and give them additional ways to express their feelings during this traumatic time in their lives.Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments