TORONTO – Victoria Daley is the author of several books that explain divorce and separation to kids, making the difficult situation easier for them to understand. Her books “Mommy Lives Here, Daddy Lives There” and “Birthday Party at Daddy’s House” were inspired by her own separation from her daughter’s father, and her life growing up with separated parents herself.
“My co-parenting experience, I’ll be honest. I was in a relationship, it didn’t work out, we were together for seven years and we had a beautiful little girl named Paige-Mia,” Victoria explained, adding that her daughter was only three when they split up.
“I wasn’t sure how I was going to educate her on what was happening but I didn’t want her to feel unheard, so I decided to write a manuscript,” she explained.
“What I did was, I took the dialogue that we had with her, I said ‘You’re a lucky girl, you have two homes. Mommy lives here, daddy lives there’ and I just ran with it,” she said, explaining her writing process.
“It was tough. Depression, sadness, the courts were involved,” she revealed, adding that she knew that she would have to dismantle the stereotypes around children who come from “broken homes”.
Not only are her books great resources for children with separated parents, but they are also educational materials for other children to learn about different family styles. Daley said that it’s important for children from families who have parents that are together to understand what other families can look like.
“Oftentimes, why it’s not discussed, is because it’s looked at as negative, and I wanted to change that” Daley added.
“This will help teachers and parents build or generate the conversation surrounding co-parenting and divorce,” Daley explained.
Victoria explained that her parents also co-parented her growing up, but she knew that her daughter wouldn’t grow up in the same situation that she did. She also explained the parallels she sees between herself and her daughter, adding that she always ensures that her daughter is able to express herself and feel heard.
“When I was growing up, and I come from a co-parenting background, I wasn’t able to say how I feel,” adding that it was difficult for her to grow up without her father in the home.
“I believe that my purpose was to have my daughter, and to write this book for myself and other parents,” she explained.
Victoria revealed her tips for co-parenting, how she ensures that she’s setting a good example for her daughter, and explained how parents can make sure that their children feel heard from the dissolving of their family unit on this episode of News You Can Use.
