A new study is revealing just how parents think their kids deal with the effects of divorce.
The Daily Mail reports a study by parenting website Netmums reveals divorced parents underestimate the effects divorce has on their children.
Netmums surveyed a thousand parents who are divorced along with 100 kids. The children were aged eight to 18.
The majority of parents, more than three quarters, believed their children handled the effects of divorce well. The study showed the opposite. The majority of kids didn't deal with their parents divorce well leaving only 18 percent were happy about their parents divorcing.
This wasn't the only thing parents underestimated about the effects of divorce.
Many parents didn't realize their child had turned to alcohol or that the kids (13 percent) blamed themselves for their parent's divorce. Only five percent of parents thought their children were the ones thinking the blame was on them.
The divorce of some kids' parents had caused the children to harm themselves. Two kids attempted suicide, while suicide was an option for six percent.
Parents were also unaware of what their kids knew about when it came to the relationship of the parents. Nearly a third (31 percent) had seen their parents fight, but a small majority (10 percent) of parents admitted to their kids seeing arguments between them.
Divorce also left kids not seeing one of the parents after news broke a divorce was coming.
The founder of Netmums, Siobhan Freegard, said the important thing is communication. Freegard says parents need to make sure they are communicating with their children to help them cope with the effects of divorce.