When a couple divorces, many times they try to keep it quiet. It might be they are embarrassed or feel it is their private business. More than likely though, they are so overwhelmed with the many decisions, they don’t think about telling other people. A lot of times the school teacher or childcare teachers are the last to know. Many parents just don’t think about alerting these people. Schoolteachers and childcare staff are the very people that need to know because they are the ones a child spends the most time with when away from home.
If you are a children’s minister how can you help the single parent know what to tell the child’s teachers about the divorce?
• First of all it is very important for the teachers to know and understand the family situation. This is especially true with the start of the new school year.
• If a parent has experienced a separation over the summer, the parent needs to meet with the teacher as close to the start of the school year as possible. If the family has been divorced for a while, the parent still needs to meet with the child’s main teacher shortly after the start of the school year.