Child reactions to family disruption – new baby, absent parent, divorce, bereavement

As home life is important in the development of a child, disruption to family life may inevitably lead to anxieties in the child.

Typical disruptions are the arrival of a new baby, the work patterns of the mother, a father working or living away from home, death of a close family member, family discord, and relationship difficulties between the parents, possibly separation or divorce.

The consequenses of anxiety in children

Those anxieties in the child may result in nightmares, sleeping disorders, underachievement at school, regression, withdrawn behaviour or forms of aggressive behaviour.

Dr Rundle sees many children where one or more of these factors may be contributing to the child’s behaviour or development issue. Through counselling, suitable ways of addressing these issues can be found resulting in some improvement.