{"id":69373,"date":"2025-06-17T13:34:50","date_gmt":"2025-06-17T12:34:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/children-families-education\/?page_id=69373"},"modified":"2025-12-11T09:50:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T09:50:11","slug":"parental-relationships","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/children-families-education\/child-family-support\/family-support\/parental-relationships\/","title":{"rendered":"Parental relationships"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The relationship between parents, whether good or bad, has an impact on children. It doesn&#8217;t matter if you live together, or separately, a good relationship between parents will help children&#8217;s happiness, and also play a part in their future relationships with others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Family life can be complicated, and sometimes relationships between parents do break down. If this happens, this can lead to what is known as &#8216;parental conflict&#8217;. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What is parental conflict?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Parental conflict refers to disagreements and arguments between parents. Some level of arguing and conflict between parents is often a normal part of everyday life. However, evidence shows that parental conflict that is frequent, intense and poorly resolved can have a significant negative impact on children\u2019s mental health and long-term life chances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Damaging conflict between parents can be expressed in many ways such as:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>shouting or aggressive arguments<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>not speaking to each other regularly or for long periods<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u200b\u200b\u200bbeing disrespectful<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>letting issues linger rather than sorting things out<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed alignfull is-type-video is-provider-vimeo wp-block-embed-vimeo\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Devon Parental Conflict Resolution_1 minute\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/1137176661?dnt=1&amp;app_id=122963\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The impact of parental conflict on children<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Children who experience positive and productive relationships are more likely to feel settled and have good social and emotional wellbeing. <br><br>Parental conflict can put children at more risk of having problems with:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>self-esteem<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>mental and physical health<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>behaviour<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>having problems with school and learning<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>relationships<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>smoking and substance misuse<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed alignfull is-type-video is-provider-vimeo wp-block-embed-vimeo\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Devon PCR Ask the Questions_SUBTITLED\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/1137192652?dnt=1&amp;app_id=122963\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"causes\">What can cause parental conflict?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>There are many reasons why conflict can arise within a relationship, some are listed below:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Parenting styles<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>We have all been brought up differently, our own childhood experiences and how we were parented will inevitably influence how we parent our own children.&nbsp; Differences in parenting and the influence from wider family members and their views on how to raise children can cause conflict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Having siblings that argue or fight, dealing with teenagers, juggling work with raising children can be very stressful.&nbsp; Children learn from adults about how to behave and interact and how to manage disagreements positively, so how we respond can really affect their behaviour and understanding of positive relationships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Having a new baby<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Whilst this is an exciting time for families, it can also bring about huge changes to family life.&nbsp; A new addition can mean big changes to routines, work, lifestyle, income, friendships, social life \u2026.. it goes on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Financial concerns<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Life for many at the moment is extremely challenging, continual increases in the cost of living is putting a huge strain on families. Increases in debt or overspending can make life tough, a job loss, a loss of working hours and pay could all add to the worry.&nbsp; As a result, families can face real pressure to meet basic needs or pay the rent or bills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Housing<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Housing can be a really worry for many families, overcrowding , poor living conditions or being able to gain a secure home can cause real worry and stress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Health difficulties<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>A family member with a long term or life limiting illnesses, poor mental health or a diagnosis of a new illness can place considerable worry and anxiety on a family.&nbsp; The stress this can place on a relationship can be overwhelming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Substance or alcohol misuse<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Having a family member dependant on something can greatly affect family life, it can effect interactions, communication, the family income and can place an enormous amount of stress on a relationship.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The relationship between parents, whether good or bad, has an impact on children. It doesn&#8217;t matter if you live together, or separately, a good relationship [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":981,"featured_media":0,"parent":65059,"menu_order":9,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"class_list":["post-69373","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-20 15:35:44","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/children-families-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/69373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/children-families-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/children-families-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/children-families-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/981"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/children-families-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69373"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/children-families-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/69373\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":72629,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/children-families-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/69373\/revisions\/72629"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/children-families-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/65059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/children-families-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}