When you and your Arizona spouse decide to split up, you, your ex or both of you may have hurt feelings. If hurt feelings exist and you share a child together, you may find that your former partner’s distaste for you is starting to bleed over into the relationship that exists between you and your own child.
According to Psychology Today, parental alienation occurs in between about 11% and 15% of today’s divorces. While it may threaten the relationship you share with your child, it may also hurt your child in an emotional sense.
Signs of parental alienation
Parental alienation occurs when one parent engages in tactics intended to hurt the relationship between the shared child and his or her other parent. If your child starts refusing your calls when with the other parent, or if the other parent makes threats to withdraw affection from the child for failing to reject you, these are examples of actions that may constitute parental alienation.
Consequences of parental alienation
Parental alienation has the potential to cause permanent damage to the relationship that exists between you and your son or daughter. It may also prove traumatic and unhealthy for your child and has the potential to impact his or her emotional well-being and relationships later in life.
Please note that not every incidence of a child rejecting a parent stems from parental alienation. Whether that child is acting on his or her own accord or at the encouragement of the other parent is an important distinction.