Should I Stay Married for the Kids? What a Divorce Coach Wants Mothers to Know

Marisa Belger
3 days ago
6 min read

Let's take a real look at the question that's following you everywhere.

It hits you when you're watching your daughter's soccer game and you see the "intact" families on the bleachers. When you're driving carpool and your son asks why you and Dad are angry at each other all the time. When you're standing in your kitchen making dinner and realize you've been holding your breath for the past twenty minutes, bracing for him to walk through the door: Am I about to destroy my children's lives if I get divorced?

A woman, a child, and a baby sit on a bed in a softly lit room, embracing lovingly. A window with gray curtains is in the background.

Or the variation that's even worse: Should I stay married for kids who still need me?

If you're reading this, you already know you're not alone in this particular 3am panic. As a divorce coach who's worked with hundreds of mothers navigating this decision, I've sat across from women drowning in this exact question. Eyes red. Voices shaking. Carrying around this invisible anvil of guilt that nobody else can see but that weighs approximately one million pounds.

The fear of breaking up your family. The shame of choosing yourself. The exhausting performance of "we're fine" when you are decidedly not fine.

Here's what I need you to hear: You're not selfish. You're not a bad mother. And staying in unhappy marriage situations that are already broken might actually be teaching your children the exact opposite of what you hope they'll learn about love.

I know that lands hard. Maybe it even pisses you off a little. But stick with me, because we need to talk about the thing nobody wants to say out loud about divorce with children.

The "Broken Home" Myth That Keeps Mothers Trapped

Somewhere along the way, we all absorbed this equation: Divorce = Broken Family. No matter what's happening inside the house, keep it together. It's the ultimate maternal sacrifice, right?

But here's the question that changed everything for me when I was in the thick of my own unraveling: Is it really better for your kids if that seemingly intact home is soaked in resentment? If you're walking on eggshells? If the silence at dinner is so thick you could cut it with a knife?

Because here's what nobody tells you when you're white-knuckling your way through another year: Kids don't actually need a perfect family structure. What they're hungry for (what they'll remember decades from now in their own therapist's office) is emotional safety. Consistent presence. Parents who model what healthy love actually looks like.

The research backs this up (and I promise I'm not just throwing studies at you to make myself feel better about my own choices): children who grow up in high-conflict homes have higher rates of anxiety, depression, and relationship struggles than kids whose parents divorced with relative calm and created a peaceful co-parenting dynamic. Studies show that when parents stay in high-conflict marriages, children actually experience relief when divorce finally happens, what researchers call the "stress relief hypothesis."

It's not the divorce impact on children that damages them. It's the war zone they're living in while you're trying to hold it together.

What Staying Married for the Kids Actually Teaches Your Children

You might be telling yourself that staying protects them. That they don't notice. That you're shielding them from the hard stuff.

But kids are emotional ninjas. They pick up everything. The coldness between you. The careful way you avoid looking at each other. The performative cheerfulness that drops the second they leave the room. They're absorbing it all like those little sponges everyone compares them to, except what they're soaking up is a blueprint for what love is supposed to look like.

And that blueprint says: Love is enduring. Relationships mean tolerating disrespect. Happiness is optional. Your needs don't matter as much as keeping everyone else comfortable.

When children watch their parents stay in a loveless marriage, they're learning their future relationship patterns. They're developing their stress responses, the ones that'll show up decades later when they're tiptoeing around their own partners, reading every mood, bracing for the next fight. Some kids carry that chronic stress into anxiety disorders. Some develop a hair-trigger nervous system. Some blame themselves for their parents' unhappiness, which is a particular kind of soul-crushing that destroys their sense of safety in the world.

So here's the mirror-moment question: By staying in a marriage that's already over, what am I teaching my children about what they should accept in their own lives?

Your honest answer to that question? That's your compass.

The Hidden Cost to You: Why Maternal Burnout Matters for Your Kids

There's this saying about not being able to pour from an empty cup, and I know it's been said so many times it's practically meaningless now, but it's true in a way that matters here: When you're depleted (when you're running on fumes and performing happiness and managing his moods and protecting the kids from the tension) you cannot show up as the mother you want to be.

I've watched this happen in real time with coaching clients. The slow erosion. The maternal burnout that looks like nothing from the outside but feels like drowning. The chronic stress that shows up as insomnia, headaches, an immune system that's basically given up, anxiety that makes your heart race at random moments throughout the day.

And here's the thing nobody wants to admit but that happens more often than you'd think: the longer you stay in that pressure cooker, the more the resentment builds. And sometimes (not always, but sometimes) that resentment spills over onto your kids. Not because you're a bad person. Because you're human and exhausted and there's only so much a nervous system can take.

What to Do When You're Considering Divorce with Children

If you're reading this and recognizing yourself in every paragraph, you're probably thinking: Okay, Marisa, but what the hell do I actually do?

Here's what moving forward doesn't mean: It doesn't mean filing for divorce tomorrow. It doesn't mean you have an answer yet. It doesn't mean the fear goes away.

What it means is this: You stop the spin cycle in your head. You face what's true, even when the truth feels like it might crack you open. You start taking small, grounded steps toward what you actually want (not what you think you're supposed to want, not what would make everyone else comfortable, but what you need to be whole).

I know the financial piece of this feels particularly impossible. The cost of everything, the fear of making it work on one income, the what-ifs that spiral out at 2am. That anxiety is real and legitimate. But with planning, with support, with a divorce coach who's walked this path and knows the terrain, it's navigable.

The bottom line? Divorce itself doesn't harm children (check the FAQs that back this up). What harms them is ongoing conflict, chronic tension, and growing up watching a parent disappear into unhappiness.

The goal isn't to avoid divorce at all costs. The goal is to create emotional safety for your kids. Period. No matter what the family structure looks like on paper.

Creating Healthy Co-Parenting After Divorce

Your children don't need you to be a martyr. They don't need a perfect intact household. They need you present. They need you regulated. They need you modeling what it looks like to honor yourself, to set boundaries, to choose peace over performance.

This is exactly the kind of work I do with mothers through divorce coaching: helping you move from 20-30 hours a week of co-parenting drama to 1-2 hours of manageable frustration. Teaching you the scripts that stop conflicts cold. Supporting you in building the emotional regulation skills that create a thriving modern family, even when it looks different than what you imagined.

You deserve peaceful nights again. Not someday. Now.

Ready to stop spinning and start sleeping? Download the FREE guide - Stop the Spin: Your 10-minute Reset for Divorce & Co-parenting Chaos and discover the exact process I use with clients to quiet the 3am panic and reclaim your mental space.

Frequently Asked Questions About Kids and Divorce

Will my children be damaged by divorce? Research shows that children are not damaged by divorce itself, but by ongoing parental conflict. Kids who experience a peaceful divorce with healthy co-parenting often fare better than children raised in high-conflict intact homes.

When is the right time to divorce when you have kids? There's no perfect time, but if your marriage involves chronic conflict, emotional abuse, or creates an environment where you cannot be emotionally present for your children, it may be time to consider whether staying is actually serving your family.

How do I know if I should stay married for kids? Ask yourself: What am I teaching my children about love and relationships by staying? If the answer involves normalizing disrespect, unhappiness, or emotional neglect, that's pretty clear.

Can you create healthy co-parenting after divorce? For sure. With the right support, tools, and commitment to your own emotional regulation, many divorced parents (like me!) create peaceful, cooperative co-parenting dynamics that serve their children far better than an intact but conflicted home.

Ready to Talk About Your Next Steps?

If you're sitting with this right now (if you're paralyzed by guilt or fear or the sheer overwhelm of not knowing what comes next) I'm here. Not to pressure you, not to tell you what to do, but to help you find your own clarity in the chaos. Book a FREE connection call to learn how coaching can help.