Bickering by kids may cost Aussie parents

SYDNEY, July 22 (UPI) -- A recent trend in the Australian legal system has seen parents being ordered to stop bickering in front of their children or face possible legal action.

The Australian Family Court recently supported a federal magistrate's decision to reprimand a couple who were fighting in front of their 3-year-old daughter, The Sunday Telegraph reported. The judge ordered them to avoid insulting one another in front of the child, along with any other attempts to turn her against the other parent.

Ultimately, the child's mother violated that order and as a result, the father was given primary custody of the young girl.

Among the comments cited as violations of such court orders are "He never amounted to anything" and "Your silly mother."

Dianne Gibson, the court's director of child dispute services, told the British newspaper the legal measures were an attempt to limit the potential damage of such comments.

"I think we underestimate how traumatic it is for children to be in a constant war zone, with their mother and father lobbing verbal grenades at each other," she said.