Children are seeing more of their fathers after divorce. That’s the primary message from a new study from the Australian Institute of Family Studies. The study reports that more than three fourths of children whose parents live in different households have face-to-face contact with their fathers at least once every 3-12 months, and more than half of them see their fathers at least twice per month.
Here’s a nice quick article about the study (registration required) from the Sydney Morning Herald. The article attributes to “other research” the finding that children of separated families do better when they have “multifaceted relationships, including sleepovers, sharing meals and doiong schoolwork, with both parents.”
One of the other little secrets we know from research, one that I share frequently with my custodial parents, is that not only will their child be healthier and happier iwhen spending time with both parents, the child will also be easier for the custodial parent to raise. It’s one of the joys of my practice, focusing as I do exclusively on couples who are able to be reasonably cooperative, that I almost never get involved in post-divorce disputes (or pre-divorce disputes, for that matter) about where children should spend their time. When parents argue after divorce – and they often do argue – it’s much more likely to be about money.
CAN I DIVORCE MY PARENT?