Marital Infidelity: Consequences For Children – Being Parents

We adults have a great responsibility. It is that our children do not pay for our actions. In the article below, we’ll tell you how marital infidelity affects children, even if they don’t know it.

How Does Infidelity Affect Children?

Contrary to popular belief, when a person is unfaithful to his partner, he causes a lot of harm to his family. This is also true if the infidelity has not been discovered.

This is very real since  children can subconsciously perceive that something is happening at home. And when that happens, there are negative repercussions on his emotional development.

Of course, everyone is free to do what they want with their life. However, when there are children in the middle, we must be careful with our actions. Each act affects them and their feelings.

Although we try by all means to keep them unaware of our mistakes, they somehow do. We may even notice changes in their behavior, in their ability to learn or in their form of expression.

The consequences of infidelity according to age

First,  a child whose father or mother is unfaithful also feels betrayed. Faced with such a situation, they react in different ways: anger, sadness, depression, shame or violence, among other changes in their behavior.

This of course also depends on the age of the child and how the infidelity affected the household. Here is how infidelity affects children depending on their age:

1. Children up to 5 years old

   They may find that parents are not paying them as much attention as they used to. They may be asking for more affection and love. If they don’t get it,  their anxiety level will increase  along with their feelings of insecurity, fear of abandonment, and jealousy. Uncertainty can take hold of them in the future and affect the relationships they build.

2. Children between 5 and 10 years old

   At this stage,  the little ones think they are the “center of the world”. This is why if the father or the mother is unfaithful, they think it is their fault. This feeling linked to the actions of their parents can lead to developmental delay.

   For example, they may urinate in their bed, speak like a “baby” or have difficulty in school. Nighttime fears and eating disorders are also common at this age.

3. Teenagers

   During this phase, your child will undoubtedly discover the infidelity of the parents. It indeed includes the “outside world”. It is said that during adolescence,  this family problem has much more impact than at a younger age. Indeed, he should perhaps act as an “accomplice” of the unfaithful adult and not tell the other parent anything that he knows.

   Also, when we are teenagers, we begin to forge our personality. This will be maintained in adulthood. This betrayal on the part of those who are supposed to help us can prove to be harmful.

   Some symptoms that may appear are: lack of self-confidence, tendency to perform solitary activities and little conversation with others.

   

4. Young adults

   Who said parental infidelity only affects children and teens? As children, there will always be repercussions if something happens with our parents – even if we no longer live with them. The reaction can be relatively strong. It may be difficult to regain confidence in the unfaithful father or mother.

   Finally, if you are wondering what are the consequences of infidelity in children, you should know that no matter how old they are, their faith in love is diminishing. So much effort – to explain them that we must love and respect the other – reduced to nothing by those who should be the example. It will certainly affect their perspective.

   For children, it is the worst betrayal they can suffer. They will live it relatively badly. You will have to make peace with them. You will also have to work hard to regain their confidence after what has happened. However, maybe they will understand the situation and everything will return to normal.