There will come a point when your divorce is in the past and you need to turn your attention to the future. As challenging as it may be to move on, doing so will help put your children in the best position to succeed.
While every parent takes a different approach to co-parenting, these five tips will help keep you on track:
- Take into account everyone’s feelings: Don’t focus so much time on your feelings that you overlook what’s best for your children and even your ex-spouse. When everyone is comfortable with the situation, there’s less risk of a disagreement.
- Pick your battles wisely: You’ll have no problem finding things to argue about with your ex-spouse, but this isn’t healthy for anyone. Pick your battles wisely, as you don’t want to turn every disagreement into a major blow-up.
- Continue to communicate with your ex: If you don’t communicate effectively with your ex, it will affect the both of you, as well as your children. It doesn’t matter how you communicate, as long as you do so. Phone, text, email and face-to-face communication are all ideas to consider.
- Remain flexible: There are times when you or your ex-spouse will need to alter the schedule that’s in place. Unless you absolutely can’t make a change, you should try to accommodate the request.
- Never put your children in the middle: It’s your hope that you can eventually get along with your ex, but even if you can’t, you never want to put your children in the middle of your toxic relationship. For instance, don’t ask your children about their other parent’s dating life. Don’t speak poorly about your ex in front of your children. Doing these types of things makes an already difficult situation more challenging.
Once your divorce is finalized, you can focus on being the best parent to your children as possible. There will be challenges along the way, but the right approach will help you make confident decisions.
If you require a post-divorce modification of your parenting agreement, learn more about your legal rights in Texas and the steps you must take.
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