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It’s important to be prepared. Navigating through the more challenging parts of parenting will be much easier if you have made preparations for the coming event.
Talking through how things might change in your relationship and renegotiating these changes will be pivotal to how you deal with these issues when the time comes.
Family is one of the first places where many people experience care, support, and belonging. For some people, family means the people they are related to by birth. For others, it may include step-parents, foster carers, adopted relatives, close family friends, or people who have helped raise and support them. Family is not only about biology. It is also about connection, trust, and how people look after one another. Families come in many different forms, and there is no single right way to be a family.
A nuclear family is usually understood as a family unit made up of two parents and their child or children living together in one household. For some people, this means a mother, father, and their biological children. However, family life is more varied than one simple image. A nuclear family can also include unmarried parents, same-sex parents, adoptive parents, adoptive children, or step-parents raising children together.
Everyone needs support and the best place to find it is in your family. Family refers to a domestic group of people brought together by birth, marriage, or legal relationships such as adoption. Extended family refers to aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents.
Hey, fellow teen! Buckle up because we’re about to dive deep into what happens when your parents decide to part ways. I’ve been there, and I want to be the guide I wish I had during my parents’ divorce at 15. Get ready; this is your ultimate go-to manual.
When we separate, we often grieve what we’ve lost, including our sense of who we were and our family as we knew it. It’s a grief that’s often not spoken about and that we’re navigating alongside the overwhelming practicalities of separation, and our most important responsibility – our children.
Household types
There were an estimated 29.0 million households in the UK in 2025. This is an increase of 7.2% from 27.0 million households in 2015. This is the same as UK population growth in the latest 10-year period with published data available (2014 to 2024), which was 7.2%.
Figure 1 shows that one-family households accounted for two in three (66.8%) UK households in 2025. Families include couples, both with and without children, and lone parents who live with their dependent and/or non-dependent children.
Easter is typically a time when families come together to celebrate – but what if you’re not speaking to your family?
For people who are estranged from their parents, events like Easter and Christmas can be particularly challenging, bringing up complex feelings of guilt and grief – especially if they have big families with annual traditions.
Families are the first place we learn about love, connection, and belonging; they shape the way we see ourselves and others!
Whether big or small, traditional or modern, every household carries its own rhythm, values, and unspoken rules… Sometimes these experiences lift us up with warmth and security, and other times they leave us navigating challenges that linger into adulthood.
As a person experiencing a parental separation, you might experience a range of emotions, including:
sadness
confusion
grief.
Getting used to the changes in your home can be difficult, and you may notice changes in yours and your parent’s emotions and behaviours during this time such as:
1. Struggling at school
As you are trying to get used to your new home environment, you may find it difficult to focus on your school work.
Have you ever stopped to ponder the true meaning of family? Sure, the Merriam-Webster definition of a family is, ‘a group of individuals related by blood, marriage, or adoption.’ But maybe it can be something more. In a world where biological ties have long been considered the foundation of family, it’s time to challenge that belief. Let’s explore the profound connections that extend beyond blood. In this thought-provoking article, we unravel the hidden layers of family, unveiling the power of adoption, chosen families, and deep friendships that redefine the traditional definition. Prepare to have your preconceptions shattered as we delve into the world of unconditional love and support.
Why is family important? While everyone is born to a mum and dad, not everyone is born into a loving family. The lack of strong, loving families can lead to the downfall of modern society in so many ways. Being part of a family, or not being part of one, has a trickle-down effect on the decisions and actions we make. Those decisions and actions can eventually lead to problems in society if too many people are making poor choices that don’t benefit the group as a whole.
We all make different choices: we go on different holidays, paint our bedrooms different colours and choose different types of pets.
The soup of humanity consists of many different chunks, and no one person will lead the same life as another. Which, of course, we all know and freely discuss.
Expectations that fathers will work full-time while mothers do the bulk of the childcare – even if they are the higher earner – remain ‘engrained and unquestioned’, research has suggested.
Meanings of family
Let me ask you – what does family mean to you? Take a minute to write down your own definition of a family. If you compare your definition of a family with others, likely you would find similarities. However, you might also see that there are ways that your definition of family may be different than others.
Family dynamics shape who we are, offering love, support, and a sense of belonging. But what happens when these dynamics are disrupted? A broken family, caused by death, divorce, or other disruptions, can lack the harmony and structure essential for emotional wellbeing. The ripple effects of such disruptions often lead to emotional and psychological challenges for everyone involved.
The decision to have a baby or remain child-free is one of the biggest you’ll make.
Values, decision-making, and narrative frameworks are useful for these decisions.
These exercises can facilitate thoughtful and intentional decision-making and discussions.
Deciding whether or not to have a baby or further expand your family is one of the biggest decisions you’ll make in your lifetime. As such, it can be a difficult decision-making process for many.
Gone are the days when fathers were solely seen as breadwinners, playmates or even distant figures in their children’s lives.
Now, we want to be there, fully involved and actively shaping our children. There’s a drive, willingness and curiosity to be closer to our children. To nurture and support our kids in all aspects of life.
Gender roles no longer define a modern father.
This article is for children and young people whose parents have split up or are splitting up. This is not unusual, in fact 1 in 3 children aged under 16 will experience their parents splitting up.
Parents getting divorced can be a traumatic and harrowing experience for people of any age, but it can be especially hard on teenagers. You’re already trying to handle changes to your body, yo-yo emotions, and all the challenges that come with being a teenager – now you have all the stresses and upset that come with your parents getting divorced to deal with, too.
