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Teaching a child to hate and reject the other parent is not just wrong, it can also harm the child in the long run.
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In short, when parents fight to get a child on their side - and against the other parent - it is the child who is the biggest victim.
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For most parents, their children are the world to them, whose interests they would go to great lengths to protect. But the same passions can also bring out the worst in feuding partners in divorce cases when the children become the subject of a bitter tug of war. It becomes not just a case of “who loves you more” but “why you should love only me”, delivered with a litany of pent-up grievances against a former spouse. There is a term for this: “parental alienation”.
Ironically, the toxic effects of “parental alienation” most harm the child, whose interests both parents claim to be upholding in their fight for care and control. It is for this reason that the courts here have stepped in with measures to protect the child from the damaging effects of the tussle, which could persist in the long term. In short, when parents fight to get a child on their side – and against the other parent – it is the child who is the biggest victim.
