During your time with your children after your divorce, you may notice behavior that seems odd. Parental alienation can lead to your children acting differently, as well as increased fights and erratic emotions.
Learning about these signs can help you figure out if your co-parent is trying to manipulate or coerce your children.
Learning private details
According to Psychology Today, co-parents who tell children about the personal and private details of a divorce are often trying to turn them against the other parent. These stories can make them think about you differently and can confuse or sadden younger children.
Your co-parent may claim that he or she is just trying to be honest and does not see the harm in this behavior in order to avoid questioning.
Repeating certain ideas
Your children may repeat rude words or phrases about you that your co-parent told them. If you hear your children state ideas that seem too mature for a child to come up with, then the ideas may have come from your co-parent.
This kind of damaging manipulation can leave you struggling to communicate with them effectively, since your children may display anger toward you. A child that cannot give you a reason why he or she feels upset could be feeling that way because of opinions your co-parent shared.
Refusing to spend time together
Alienated children may state that they wish to only spend time with their other co-parent or that they dislike staying with you even when there had been no problems before. This sudden change of opinion is one sign of parental alienation.