Restored: Helping Children of Divorce
Jul 28, 2026 · 46 min · 16 segments
Divorce is traumatic for children at every age—but parents can either deepen that wound or help their children heal. In this conversation, licensed clinical social worker and psychoanalyst Erica…
Joey PontarelliHostThere are ways to help children to cope with it so they come out of that experience more resilient and capable of having loving relationships.
And so that's really an important and hopeful message that, you know, although it is a challenge for children and not a challenge that we should deny is a challenge, there are ways to reduce the negative impact on those children so they come out emotionally healthy.
There's, I think, been somewhat of a trend in the past to maybe not call this a trauma, but I really appreciate your voice on this saying, no, it is a trauma, but there's a lot of hope and that we can give them the help that they deserve.
So that means that at least one in two families face divorce, right? And so what that means is not all those families have children, but of the ones who have children, it means that those children are exposed to one of the greatest losses that they'll ever face in their lives, which is the loss of the nuclear family, the loss of the unit, the loss of the security and safety of that having a mother and father who love each other and live in the same home provides for children.
So the idea that relationships are permanent and unconditional and that you have this constancy is really important for children's development.
So when parents say we're not going to live together anymore, we don't love each other anymore.
It destroys that illusion for children that protects them and helps them to develop in a healthy way.
There are ways to help children to cope with it so they come out of that experience more resilient and capable of having loving relationships.
And so that's really an important and hopeful message that, you know, although it is a challenge for children and not a challenge that we should deny is a challenge, there are ways to reduce the negative impact on those children so they come out emotionally healthy.
There's, I think, been somewhat of a trend in the past to maybe not call this a trauma, but I really appreciate your voice on this saying, no, it is a trauma, but there's a lot of hope and that we can give them the help that they deserve.
So that means that at least one in two families face divorce, right? And so what that means is not all those families have children, but of the ones who have children, it means that those children are exposed to one of the greatest losses that they'll ever face in their lives, which is the loss of the nuclear family, the loss of the unit, the loss of the security and safety of that having a mother and father who love each other and live in the same home provides for children.
So the idea that relationships are permanent and unconditional and that you have this constancy is really important for children's development.
So when parents say we're not going to live together anymore, we don't love each other anymore.
It destroys that illusion for children that protects them and helps them to develop in a healthy way.
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