Autumn takes us through her parents divorce from a very young age. She describes how and when she actually becomes aware of her family dynamic. She delves into the emotional trauma, her coping mechanisms, and the shift in perspective as the speaker navigates through her experiences. It also explores the co-parenting responsibility, family dynamics, resentment, and the role reversal in parenting. The conversation delves into the impact of wanting to live with her father, not understanding the reality of that, having stability with her mother and step-father, but not seeing it clearly at that point in time, the guilt that she felt her father operated from, the reconciliation at some point into adulthood as a caregiver to her step-siblings and how that shaped her own parenting and relationships as an adult.

Takeaways

• Divorce Impact
• Parental Relationships Parenting Impact
• Navigating Transitions

Chapters

• 00:00 Early Childhood and Divorce
• 05:56 Emotional Trauma and Coping
• 11:54 Co-Parenting Responsibility
• 17:54 Living with Father and Siblings
• 29:48 Liver Transplant and Caregiving
• 44:28 Parenting Impact
• 50:44 Emotional Impact on Parenting
• 58:07 Greatest Positive Impact

Angela takes us back to her parent's divorce in elementary school. She explains how the back and forth changed from early childhood into teenage years. She takes us through her wanted to protect her mother from what may have seems like simple happenings at her fathers, the reality that her step-mother was present, etc. She also dives into when she became pregnant at 16 and how both parents handled that incredibly life change. She reflected on how her parental relationships changed as she matured into adulthood. The conversation delves further into the repaired relationship with her father, the impact of divorce on her own relationships and parenting, navigating co-parenting as a young mother and the greatest positive impact of the speaker's experiences.

Takeaways

• Impact of divorce on children
• Navigating relationships with divorced parents; Understanding parental limitations
• Impact of divorce on parenting
• Navigating co-parenting as a teen mother

Chapters

• 00:00 Introduction and Family Background
• 06:06 Adjusting to New Living Arrangements
• 13:24 Observing Parental Interactions
• 22:28 Parental Involvement in Events
• 29:27 Reflecting on Parental Relationships
• 55:35 Greatest Positive Impact

In the debut episode of In Between Them, host Shannon Darrow shares her deeply personal journey through divorce and motherhood, revealing how separation can profoundly impact children. Drawing from lived experience, professional insight, and stories from others who grew up in divorced families, Shannon explores how conflict, emotional overwhelm, and lack of guidance can shape a child’s world. This podcast is a view into the mind of a child as their parent's are navigating divorce. The goal is to expose the actual impacts the varied behaviors, actions, words can have on children so that parents and professionals can do better for children moving forward.

This episode sets the foundation for the reality that compassionate co-parenting is more important than one might think, but also incredibly difficult; it highlights the power of parental impact; and introduces a mission centered on giving children a voice/or parent's a clearer perspective—so they can do divorce better. So children can thrive, not just survive, in the midst of family change.