By Rosalind Sedacca, CDC
January is International Child-Centered Divorce Month
This year we commemorate the 10th Anniversary of International Child-Centered Divorce Month.
In recognition of International Child-Centered Divorce Month divorce experts around the world will be providing free ebooks, coaching services, teleseminars and other gifts to divorced parents throughout January. ICCD Month is dedicated to alerting parents about the effects of divorce on children – and how to prevent emotional and psychological damage to children during and after a divorce.
Divorce attorneys, mediators, therapists, financial planners, coaches and other professionals on four continents will be participating. Their purpose is to promote peaceful divorce, cooperative co-parenting, and educating parents about how to prevent negative consequences for children affected by separation or divorce.
More divorces get initiated in January, following the holiday season, than in any other month. That’s why as a Divorce & Parenting Coach and founder of the Child-Centered Divorce Network, I chose January to commemorate ICCD Month every year. International Child-Centered Divorce Month is dedicated to alerting parents about the harm to their children when divorce isn’t handled effectively. Repeated studies show that it isn’t divorce per se that damages children. It’s the mistakes that unaware parents make before, during and after divorce that does the harm.
MoietyApp.com is supporting ICCD Month by providing free access to their online co-parenting scheduling resources that minimize conflict during and after divorce. Psychologist Azmaira Maker, PhD, author of Family Changes, a book helping parents explain divorce to young children, is offering a gift ebook with 10 Golden Rules that Protect Children from Divorce Tug-of-Wars. www.AspiringFamilies.com.
Other divorce professionals across the globe are joining Sedacca to bring a heightened awareness to parents about their responsibility to their children’s well-being before, during and after divorce. Their purpose is education and mistake prevention. They want to encourage mediation instead of damaging litigation, respectful co-parenting, effective communication skills, and guide parents away from common mistakes that negatively impact children, teens and adults.
We can never overemphasize how parental decisions about divorce can affect and scar children – for years – and often for a lifetime. Our resounding message to divorcing parents is: Regardless of your own emotional state, it is essential to put your children’s needs first when making decisions related to divorce or separation! Often that means letting go of anger and resentment in favor of co-operative co-parenting so your children aren’t robbed of their childhood.
Our goal is to catch divorcing parents before they make mistakes they will regret when it comes to their children’s emotional wellbeing. Too many parents divorcing today don’t realize that they have many reasonable choices and viable options for parenting after divorce. They don’t have to walk the path we too often see in the headlines. Cooperative co-parenting and harmonious divorces are not only possible, they’re the direction to choose if you want to minimize the negative effects of divorce on everyone in the family.
The Child-Centered Divorce Network has created a special website where parents can access all the valuable gifts by simply clicking links. The website will be available throughout January at www.divorcedparentsupport.com/ebook.
In addition, parents can find listings of free expert interviews, teleseminars, webinars and other special events being held during January on the Events Calendar at the same website: www.divorcedparentsupport.com/ebook.
To learn more about the Child-Centered Divorce Network, visit www.childcentereddivorce.com as well as www.howdoitellthekids.com.