After your divorce, you may notice changes in how your children respond to you and act while you are around. While this might not always be obvious, parental alienation can leave many parents struggling to connect with their children.
Knowing how this phenomenon harms you can help you stop it before it grows.
Broken bond
According to Psychology Today, one major issue that can happen after a divorce is that children stop talking to one of their parents. An alienating co-parent may tell children lies and inappropriate details about the divorce or your personal life.
This kind of oversharing can leave children feeling nervous and overwhelmed, which often leads to fewer personal bonding moments between you and them.
Increased fighting
If a child feels alienated from one parent and believes the worst about him or her, then the child may continually fight and cause trouble. You may notice your children misbehaving more frequently and ignoring your attempts at discipline.
This often happens when your ex-spouse speaks badly of you and attempts to guilt your children into only siding with him or her. Your co-parent may discourage them from talking positively about you or saying they enjoyed spending time alone with you.
Weakened communication
In extreme cases, your co-parent may try to block your children from communicating with you through emails or texts. Heavy censoring and restricted time on digital devices may mean your children cannot talk to you as often when they are away.
Noticing how parental alienation hurts you can help you decide what to do next if you want to take steps to end it.