Although wanting the best for their children, sometimes parents struggle to co-parent successfully following difficult divorces. The end of a marriage often carries significant emotion, from sadness to anger to relief, for those involved. For some families, these feelings and the challenges that led to the breakdown of the marriage carry over into the divorce and parenting post-divorce processes.
Using the following tips in their co-parenting interactions may help some parents to make the process as smooth, healthy and beneficial as possible for their families.
Maintain consistent routines
According to Fatherhood.gov, co-parenting situations often benefit from keeping the routines consistent. Having a schedule for how holidays and school breaks go and when the child will go from one house to the other goes a long way for many families in avoiding conflicts and giving their children the security, they need.
Encourage an ongoing relationship
According to MayoClinic.org, people may help their children by encouraging ongoing parent-child relationships with the other parents. To this end, they should avoid talking negatively about the other parent in front of or to their children. Additionally, it helps if they refrain from seeming upset or jealous when the child spends time with the other parent.
Emphasize communication
Communication will play an essential role in people working together to raise their children from two separate households. Just as they would if still in a relationship, parents should talk to each other about their kids’ successes and struggles. Rather than using their children as go-betweens, those in co-parenting relationships may use things such as email, text messages or shared parenting apps to maintain communication if they struggle to do so verbally.
Developing shared parenting agreements and other steps they take during the divorce process may aid parents in helping their kids to adjust to this type of major life change.
