Why Young Kids Should Spend Equal Time with Divorced Parents

When parents separate or divorce, they often wonder what's best for their young children: should they spend more time with their mother in order to maintain a strong relationship? Previous research suggested that when a child spends too much time with his or her father early in life, it can damage the mother-child bond, which had been viewed as the more important relationship, the researchers wrote in the study. However, the researchers found that "not only did overnight parenting time with fathers during infancy and toddlerhood cause no harm to the mother-child relationship, it actually appeared to benefit children's relationships with both their mothers and their fathers," lead study author William Fabricius, an associate professor of psychology at Arizona State University, said in a statement.