Parental alienation can be a huge problem for divorced or estranged parents. Parental alienation, sometimes called Hostile Aggressive Parenting, is a behavior by a parent, or another caretaker or adult a child trusts, such as a grandmother/father, aunt, uncle, etc., whether conscious or unconscious, that could create alienation in the relationship between a child and a parent. Alienating conduct can be very harmful to not only the children but to the parents/adults as well.
Children look at themselves as extensions of their parents. When one parent insults the other parent in front of their child, that parent is also subliminally telling that child that their value is less. Sadly, our courts do not do much about parental alienation — and it really should.
To raise awareness, April 25 has been established as Parental Alienation Awareness Day. You can find out more about this at http://www.paawarenessday.com/