Drs. Barb Hughson and Wayne Benenson: Steadying Kids in Divorce

The parents get to separate. The children do not. They pack a bag, cross town, and adjust to a different set of unwritten rules, and then do it again three days later. Dr. Wayne Benenson says the confusion of that lands as a child's own failure long before anyone explains otherwise.

Our guests this episode are two returning friends of the show. Dr. Barb Hughson is a family law mediator who works inside the court system, a child and family therapist with more than 25 years in private practice, and a parent and leadership coach. Dr. Wayne Benenson spent his career teaching, from preschool through graduate school, and now works in mindfulness instruction. Together they run Great Masters and are the authors of Claim Your Light. Lisa brought them back while working on the section of Book 2 that asks the question every one of our clients asks first: how can my kids be okay?

They open on the effects of separation on children, including in the calmer divorces, and on how long adjustment takes, which depends on the child's age, the severity, and how secure things were beforehand. Barb explains social referencing, the way a baby as young as eight months checks a caregiver's face before deciding whether a situation is safe, and traces it forward into the parent education classes she teaches, where the emotions parents list for themselves and the emotions they list for their children turn out to be the same list. Wayne's line on this is that how a child adjusts to a divorce tracks how the parent does.

From there it becomes a toolkit. Self-care rebuilt as something the new family unit does together, including the Friday board games Wayne plays with his grandchildren over video. Shaking as a remedy for a child locked in anxiety, and a simple clapping game for one about to blow. Asking a teenager to teach you the thing they are good at. Giving a child the choice about therapy rather than delivering them to it because you are ready. Modeling a mistake out loud. Building a vocabulary past mad, glad, and sad, and reading faces to get there. A family code word for the moment before someone loses it. Saying 'I am sad right now' and adding the part that matters, which is that your child does not have to fix it. And finally, what to do when your child has taken on responsibility for the other parent's feelings, where Wayne goes to core values and Barb goes to a boat, a river, and a life preserver you throw rather than jumping in after them.

As always, this is strategic education, not legal or mental-health advice for your specific situation.

🎓 What you'll learn

• What separation costs children even in the calmer divorces, and what drives how long adjustment takes
• The three questions kids ask silently in each house: am I okay, am I safe, can I be myself
• Social referencing, and why your emotions become the list your child reports
• What a child's adjustment tracks, and why it comes back to the parent
• Self-care as a family project, and building traditions that replace what was lost
• Shaking, clapping games, and getting a teenager to teach you something
• Why giving a child the choice about therapy protects their willingness to ask for help later
• What to do when your child feels responsible for the other parent's feelings

⏱️ Chapters
0:00 Intro
1:00 What divorce costs kids, starting with faith in family
5:00 Two houses, two sets of unspoken rules
7:00 How long adjustment takes, and "am I safe here?"
9:00 Social referencing, and why your emotions land on your kids
11:00 What a child's adjustment actually tracks
14:00 Self-care as a family project, and new traditions
18:00 Laughter, shaking, and the games that shift a mood
25:00 Getting a teenager to teach you, and letting kids choose therapy
33:00 Past mad, glad, and sad, and the family code word
43:00 When your child feels responsible for the other parent

Keep going 💜
Book a free 30-minute discovery call and we'll help you map your next steps: https://beentheregotout.com/call
📘 Been There Got Out: Toxic Relationships, High-Conflict Divorce, and How to Stay Sane Under Insane Circumstances — https://www.amazon.com/dp/194627495X
📘 Been There Got Out: When Your Ex Turns the Kids Against You (our parental-alienation book) — https://www.amazon.com/dp/1967674183
🔗 Great Masters: Dr. Barb Hughson and Dr. Wayne Benenson: https://www.greatmastersinc.com/
🔗 Dr. Barb Hughson's court-ordered parent education classes: https://www.courtparentclass.com/
🔗 Claim Your Light by Dr. Wayne Benenson and Dr. Barb Hughson: https://www.amazon.com/Claim-Your-Light-Gaining-Fulfilling/dp/099856561X

🎧 More with Dr. Barb Hughson and Dr. Wayne Benenson on this podcast
Ep 2: Trauma-Informed Mediation
Ep 19: Mediation and the Child's Voice
Ep 106: Will My Kids Be Okay?
Ep 113: Kids, Boundaries, and Trauma
Ep 121: When Your Child's Anger Turns Physical

About Been There Got Out
Chris Barry and Lisa Johnson are high-conflict divorce, custody, and co-parenting strategists, and the founders of Been There Got Out. They know these cases from the inside: both have successfully represented themselves in family court. Few attorneys have a playbook for a case like this — Chris and Lisa write yours with you, so you and your kids can get through it as unscathed as possible.