When you are going through financial struggles as a parent, it can be even more difficult to manage the process than when you don’t have kids. As a parent of young children, you will want to give them everything that you never had, and you may use tactics such as credit cards in order to do this.
Your emotional attachment to your children and the desire to show them love with material things may actually be having a significant impact on your debt, causing you to become more stressed and worried about your finances. Filing for bankruptcy could be the best option for you to improve your situation, but it will likely have an impact on your children as well as yourself. The following is an overview of how to talk to your kids about bankruptcy depending on their age.
Preschool-age children
When children are under the age of six, they may not need to know that you are filing bankruptcy, and they may be affected negatively if you explain the process in a way that is worrying to them. Therefore, you should only speak to them to explain what is going on if it will affect them in some way, for example, if it is going to mean that you will move homes.
Elementary school-age children
Children between the ages of 6 and 12 are extremely perceptive, and they will likely know that something is going on, even if you have not told them. This is why it is a good idea to explain the situation to them so that you can gain their trust and ease any worries that they have. You may want to explain that you all have to work hard to minimize the amount of money you are spending for now, but that once everything is completed, you will do something fun as a family to celebrate.
Filing for bankruptcy is always challenging, but it can be made even harder when you have dependent children. Make sure that you take action to understand which bankruptcy Chapter would work best for you.
