Hopefully, your divorce has been amicable, and you’ve managed to part ways with your spouse on the best of terms.
And even if that was the case, there is no guarantee that your kids won’t carry the scars of this difficult ordeal.
Needless to say, you have to give it your all and try to maintain a healthy relationship with your ex if you are to stand a chance of raising a healthy, vibrant young mind.
That said, one of the most difficult challenges you will have to face now is the challenge of bonding with your child, getting through to them, and setting them on the right path.
Because when confronted with something deeply upsetting, something they can’t understand, like a divorce, children tend to shut down. Let’s prevent this together, and go over the essential ways you can use creativity and education to bond with your kid after a divorce.
5 Creative Ways to Bond with Your Kids After Divorce
Break out your painting and drawing kits
Let’s start with the basics of creativity – drawing, and painting. If you have very young kids, between three and ten years old, then you can easily occupy their mind with art. It’s important that you utilize your time with them (whether you have custody or not) in the best possible way, and spend as much time as possible painting and drawing together. Most importantly, though, you need to make it a fun and engaging experience.
The purpose of this exercise is not to draw whatever you like, but instead to decide on the theme of the game and give it some structure. You’ll be amazed at what your kid can achieve when you set some game rules, but don’t just watch them paint – grab your own brushes and watercolors and challenge them to make a better drawing than yours.
Teach them something truly exciting
You’re an adult, you surely have some hobbies and unique interests. So why not share them with your kids? Remember, children are eager to learn, their minds always searching for new and exciting information to enrich their imagination and the worlds they create. If you’re into astronomy, talk to them about the stars, if you’re a nature-lover, take them hiking. Hey, you can even teach a young child to fall in love with math if you’re a good teacher and if you know how to make it fun and engaging.
Practice a new language with your little one
When it comes to obtaining and retaining new knowledge, there’s nothing more powerful than a young mind. Children are particularly prone to learning new languages at a very young age, and they can even master the unique intricacies of every dialect if they attend phonics for kids classes from a young age. But that doesn’t mean that the learning process starts and ends in the classroom.
This is your golden opportunity to bond with your kid by practicing with them the sounds, words, and phonetic symbols they learned – but you need to make it fun and rewarding. Put the things they’ve learned into practice, and talk to them in that language only. Reward them for every correct letter, word, and sentence they create and watch as your relationship deepens as a result.
Spend more time in the great outdoors
In this modern day and age, kids spend way too much time staring at the screen. While playing video games with your kid is a great way to bond, technology can still alienate you in the long run. So, it’s important to unplug every once in a while and head out into the great outdoors. While you’re hiking and trekking about, be sure to teach your kids about the different plant and animal species that inhabit your surroundings to spark their interest.
Improve their motor skills through dance
And lastly, one of the best and most creative ways to bond with your child during difficult times is to simply close your eyes, stop talking, and just dance. Kids love to dance, so let them express their creativity and work on their motor skills at the same time by dancing with them. But don’t just flail your arms and legs about, rather, give some structure and meaning to the whole thing by teaching them real dance moves and choreographies. This is bound to be a truly memorable bonding experience.
Wrapping up
Parting ways with your spouse might have been inevitable, but you can still make a positive impact on your child by taking control of the situation and doing whatever it takes to bond with them and influence their mindset. This will not only deepen your relationship but will prevent your children from carrying their emotional scars into adulthood.
Lauren Laporte is a health writer at ripped.me. Her favorite subjects revolve around mental and physical health, and how they inevitably affect each other. Inspired by mountains of research and the latest in the fields of nutrition, neuroscience and cognitive science, she’s motivated to inform people of just how much they’re all interconnected. She’s into both nature and nurture and believes that to be the main message her writing is sending out. www.ripped.me/author/
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