New book aims to help children cope with parental divorce

If you have children and are planning to divorce your partner, there may well be extra weight on your mind. The impact divorce has on children is something that sociologists have been studying for decades but they are still yet to reach a consensus.

This is most likely because different divorces affect different children in different ways. There are a lot of variables to take into account when it comes to children’s wellbeing during and after a divorce such as their age and their parents’ behaviour.

What is clear, though, is that parental divorce can be a huge upheaval for children as well as for their parents. A new book by Gail Trauco aims to help guide children through the emotional process. Trauco, an American grief specialist, was inspired to write Emma Meets the Grief Monster after researching the impact of divorce on children at Harvard University last year, coupled with her own childhood experience of her parents’ divorce.

The book centres on Emma, an 11-year-old girl whose favourite activities are spending time with her family and playing basketball with the other girls in her neighbourhood. Seemingly out of the blue, Emma learns that her parents will be getting a divorce, and that her father is moving out of the family home. Emma is shocked by the news, but then the Grief Monster (a purple creature with big horns and pointy teeth) appears in her bedroom and informs her he will be there to support her in the following days, weeks and months.

The book has so far received positive reviews among American parents, and is set to form part of a series helping children cope with different forms of grief.

Referring to her book, Trauco said: “It became very clear to me that children and their parents are in great need of resources to help young people experience grief and loss as a result of divorce in as healthy a way as possible. My fondest wish is that this book series will provide a new language about feelings of loss for generations to come.”

Read more about child matters in divorce here