It's never easy to break the news of your divorce to your children. Few things feel worse than telling your child you're about to split their world in two. And so it's a little bittersweet to hear that just before announcing their separation, Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin left for a family vacation together. The couple and their children, 9-year-old Apple and 7-year-old Moses, are spending time in the Bahamas -- probably the last time the four of them will vacation together ever again.
I'm sure a pre-split vacation would be helpful for any child, but for Apple and Moses, it would be especially important considering all the publicity the divorce is attracting now. I'm sure their parents do their best to protect their kids from the frenzy, but it would still be hard.
That aside, though, it sounds incredibly thoughtful for Paltrow and Martin to get together for some family bonding far away from the public. (Not to mention the self-control and thoughtfulness it would take for each of them to spend time together peacefully.) After all, they could have escaped the public on separate vacations, on either ends of the globe from each other. It really speaks to the gentleness Paltrow and Martin are trying to extend to their children in the midst of a difficult transition.
We can't all take our kids on a beautiful tropical vacation to cushion the blow of a divorce, and we're obviously not going to show up on the cover of tabloid magazines. But those of us who are dealing with divorce (like I am) can take this as inspiration. Maybe there's something we can do to help our kids unplug from the stress and relax a little.
Even though Paltrow and Martin will be moving on to separate lives, because of the children they share, they will always be, in some ways, a family. Now their kids will always have the memories of that last family vacation together, evidence of how mindful their parents were of their happiness, even while they were in the process of splitting apart.
What other ways do parents try to protect their kids from the stress of divorce?
Image via Gwyneth Paltrow/Instagram