When Parents Part

Book excerpt: A practical, comprehensively researched guide to doing the best for your child during and after separation or divorce—from the bestselling author of Your Baby & Child, one of the world’s leading experts on child development and parenting. “Wide-ranging, incisive, and candid.... Lots of sound practical advice.” ­—Psychology Today Using the latest scientific research in child development, Penelope Leach details the effects of divorce on children in five stages of life—infants, toddlers, primary-school children, teenagers, and young adults—some of whom are far more deeply affected than previously thought. She explains recent studies that overturn common assumptions, showing, for example, that many standard custody arrangements for young children can be harmful. Leach’s advice is meticulously considered and exhaustive, covering everything from access, custody, and financial and legal considerations to managing separate sets of technology in two households, and she includes the voices of parents and children to illustrate her points. Above all, she holds up “mutual parenting” as the ideal way to co-parent after a divorce, offering concrete ways for parents to put responsiveness to their children’s needs ahead of their feelings about each other.