All families have struggles at times – it’s just part of being human. No matter how hard you try and no matter how strong of a family unit you may have, no family is perfect and it’s just inevitable that you will sometimes struggle. The good news is that most hardships you will go through with your family are things that many families have gone through before you, so often there are lots of people and resources to help you navigate even the most difficult situations.
Unfortunately, sometimes the struggles you endure as a family can affect your children later on in life. If you are on the lookout, it may be possible to prevent this from happening. So here are 3 family struggles that can affect your children as they get older.
Divorce
Many married couples get divorced, and this can be a really hard situation, especially when there are children involved. It can be impossible to know at the time if you are making the right decision at the time and no matter how old your kids are you know that you and your spouse getting divorced is going to affect them in many ways for years to come.
They will have to choose who to live with the majority of the time, and may have to move back and forth a lot. It can be a challenge for kids to understand why their parents no longer want to be together, but the important thing is that you do your best to communicate with them throughout the process and make sure they know that you still love them very much.
Financial Instability
Financial struggles can affect children even though they may not understand anything about money yet. If your household is financially unstable, even if only at times, this can dictate the type of relationships your kids will have with money even once they become adults.
From a very young age, kids catch on to things, and they will hear even the conversations you don’t mean for them to hear. Try teaching your children whatever you can about how to make smart financial decisions, and once they get old enough teach them about your own mistakes so that they can perhaps avoid making the same ones.
Moving
Although moving can sometimes be a good thing, it can also put a lot of stress on a family, its youngest members included. There is a lot of turmoil when moving to a new city or even just a different home, so be aware of this and cut your kids some slack. Any emotional trauma that they go through may stay with them for the rest of their lives, so try to keep it to a minimum in situations like moving.
Every family has its own struggles and yours is no different. Just try to protect your children as well as you can and they will thank you later on!
