One of my friends that wants to file for divorce is worried about how hard it will be on their 11 year old daughter. There is no getting around it, divorce is hard on kids. But there are also some benefits for kids, at least in my experience with my daughter:
- Child and parent can grow closer since there is not another adult taking part of the attention away
- Child and parent spend more time together
- Child has unique relationship with each parent, not just a single relationship with "parents"
- Child learns independence
- Child learns how to help out and pitch in
- Siblings can grow closer to each other
- Parents friends become like family members, making for a big extended family
- Step parents and parents new significant other can add richness to kids' lives
- Parents learn to be open and honest with their kids
- Parents can focus more on their kids
Ideally, kids would grow up with 2 loving parents in the same household. But when that doesn't happen, kids can still thrive. Just look at Michael Phelps!