Discussing divorce with preschool-age kids

Alan Yellin, PhD Psychologist, Marriage and Family Therapist, shares advice for parents on how to best go about telling their preschool-age child that you are getting a divorce
Divorce An Children | Discussing Divorce With Preschool Age Kids
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Discussing divorce with preschool-age kids

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First of all, it´s important to remember we have to discuss and use the D word, the divorce word, with preschool age children. So we would suggest telling them sometimes mommies and daddies don´t get along and sometimes mommies and daddies can´t live together but that they will also be their mommy and daddy. And when mommies and daddies don´t live together anymore, it´s called divorce. And that we want to use the word specifically for that child. We also want the child to know what´s going to happen in their life. That is, mommy is going to be living here and daddy is going to be living here. We want the child to see where both homes are and we want the child to have a concrete understanding of what it means that mom and dad are not going to be together.

Alan Yellin, PhD Psychologist, Marriage and Family Therapist, shares advice for parents on how to best go about telling their preschool-age child that you are getting a divorce

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Alan Yellin, PhD

Psychologist

Dr. Alan Yellin is a licensed psychologist as well as licensed marriage and family therapist.  He has been in practice for over 30 years working with children, adolescents and adults. Dr. Yellin did his post-doctoral fellowship at Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles. In his practice, he sees children with learning problems, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, fears and social skills issues. Additionally, he has a sub-specialty in working with children from divorced families as well as helping parents deal more effectively with their divorce. Dr. Yellin’s practice also includes working with adolescents and adults with depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive issues as well as issues around life passages. Dr. Yellin believes that therapy works best when the client and therapist have a collaborative relationship as they explore thoughts and feelings and work towards solutions, and uses a combination of scientific data along with humor to help people achieve change. He is in a long-term happy marriage and has two grown children.

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