Family disputes can impact students’ performance, expert warns

Family counselor and certified trainer Abeer Al-Saad has emphasized that the return to school is a significant period for families, stressing that family stability directly affects children’s psychological well-being and their ability to focus and engage with academic life.

Speaking to Ajel, Al-Saad explained that children living in environments marked by ongoing tension and conflict may find it more difficult to concentrate at school. She noted that the effects of marital disputes are not always immediately visible, but can manifest as behavioral and psychological changes in children.

She identified key warning signs in children, including irritability, withdrawal, sleep disturbances, declining academic performance, loss of enthusiasm for school, or even refusal to attend classes in some cases.

Al-Saad added that younger children, in particular, often lack the ability to express their feelings verbally, so the pressures they experience at home may emerge as indirect behavioral issues.

The counselor warned that the situation becomes more complicated when a child is drawn into parental disputes—whether by being involved in the details of conflicts, hearing complaints about the other parent, being asked to take sides, or being used to relay messages between parents.

She stressed that children should not be made parties to marital disagreements or burdened with the responsibility of repairing their parents’ relationship. Children need to feel that their parents can manage conflicts independently and that family stability is not their responsibility.

Al-Saad pointed out that disagreements within a family are normal and do not mean that married life must be free of differences. What matters most, she said, is how parents handle these disputes and ensuring they do not become a constant source of fear or anxiety for their children.

With the new school year approaching, Al-Saad emphasized the importance of providing a calm and secure home environment to help children start the academic year with confidence and focus, away from conflicts that do not concern them.