Is there room for friendship after infidelity and divorce? Nothing can be more difficult than to maintain civil, not to mention friendly relations with a person who has caused so much hurt by a betrayal. Sometimes, for the sake of sanity or the children's welfare, it is best to consider friendship rather than continuous animosity.
Harboring anger and pain for a long time is ultimately self-destructive. It may prove harder to maintain especially if an estranged couple is still moving within the same social circle. It is almost impossible to truly talk about the children's welfare if all meetings are marked by fights and hostility. After the law has settled questions about property, custody, and support, divorced couples are better off concentrating on ways to leading a better life separately.
Becoming friends at the aftermath of a bitter divorce especially due to the unfaithfulness of one may not be immediately possible. The hurt takes time to heal which can make even ordinary chance meetings a gruesome ordeal for everybody including the children. It may just be too much to expect for affected couples to consider friendship while the sense of betrayal is still fresh.
Friendship is not impossible to attain especially through time. It is usually the cheated spouse who has a harder time bouncing back, being at the receiving end of infidelity. Most of the time, the cheating spouse has already carved a new life courtesy of the third party. The temptation to wallow in self-pity and harbor anger for the cheating spouse and the paramour is so great that friendship is just out of the question.
It is far easier to discard previous relationships when there is no connecting element that remains like children. Changing jobs and homes can be arranged but changing the father or the mother of children is an entirely different thing. When an estranged couple do become friends eventually, it is best to remember that friendship, like marriage, requires trust to flourish.
