Therapy & Counseling Blog, Sylvia S. Roan

Many parents have put their child in the middle of their conflicts without knowing that they were hurting the child unintentionally. For instance, when you were boiling emotionally at your spouse’s or ex-spouse’s  words or actions, you vented to your child about how wrong s/he was and how irresponsible s/he was. Out of your frustration in the daily challenges as a single parent, you may tell your child to carry a message to their dad or mom . Or you may say something like,”Ask your dad to pay for this filed trip. I don’t have money. He has money and he is simply not willing to spend on you.”.  What do you think your child felt when you or your ex told your child things that s/he had no control with?