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What are common signs of parental alienation?

On Behalf of | Mar 2, 2022 | Family Law

After a divorce, you may begin to notice subtle signs that your relationship with your children is changing. What you may not notice is that your ex-spouse is manipulating your children through parental alienation tactics.

Knowing how to identify alienation can help you as you co-parent and deal with your divorce.

Portraying you in a negative light

According to Psychology Today, a co-parent may lie about the other parent to their children in order to cast him or her as an uncaring or mean person. While this may have no basis in truth, it can still scare your children and make them shy away from talking to you.

This kind of alienation can happen when your co-parent shares personal and private details about your life with your children. These details are likely not intended for children to hear, which can make them view you in a negative light.

Hiding important information

In some cases, your co-parent will not tell you about important school events or doctor’s visits in order to cause a rift between you and your children. Your co-parent may purposefully withhold information or throw away paper reminders of these events instead of giving them to you.

When you miss attending these events through no fault of your own, it could reflect poorly on you as a parent and make your children even more upset.

Limiting communication

Your co-parent may even limit the amount of time your children can talk to you both in person or through long-distance methods like email and texting. Not only can this leave you feeling isolated, but it can confuse your children, who may not understand what is going on.

Noticing these signs of manipulation is important for anyone trying to avoid parental alienation.