One thing divorcing parents might be particularly worried about when it comes to divorce and the children this time of year is what school-related impacts the divorce could have on the kids.
There are many ways a divorce could affect a child when it comes to school. One is way is from a logistical prospective. Many important logistical questions regarding the kids and school can arise when parents divorce, including:
- Where will the kids go to school moving forward?
- How will the kids get to and from school?
- Whose house will the kids go to after school?
- How will school-related costs for the kids be divided?
Resolving these logistical questions properly is very important, as failing to do so could make things more uncertain for a child when it comes to school. Such uncertainty can be very hard on kids. Attorneys can help divorcing parents with determining how best to address these issues in child custody and child support agreements.
Another school-related effect a parent’s divorce could potentially have on a child is divorce-related stress impacting the child’s performance at school. Thus, it can be very important for divorcing parents to keep a close eye on how their kids are doing at school and to take proper steps to help address divorce-related school problems that arise for their kids. One thing that can be a big help with these things is good parent-teacher communications.
A recent survey indicated that many teachers feel that one communication-related thing parents need to improve in is informing teachers when a major family event has occurred, such as a divorce, that could affect their kids’ school performance. The survey also indicated there is a pretty big disconnect between how important teachers view being informed about a divorce and how common it is for parents to actually inform teachers of divorces. Informing their children’s teachers of the divorce is something only 23 percent of the surveyed divorcing parents said they did. Meanwhile, 94 percent of the surveyed teachers said that marriage ruptures, like divorce, were something they felt it was important for their students’ parents to tell them about.
What do you think is behind this disconnect? How important do you think it is for divorcing parents to inform their children’s teachers of the divorce? What do you think would help make parents more willing to inform teachers of a divorce?