If you have children and are either going through or have yet to file for divorce, you might feel like creating a parenting schedule is overwhelming. Though you and your ex-spouse are on good terms, putting together a child custody/parenting agreement that benefits everyone is not as easy as it may seem. Besides having to consider your preferences and lifestyle needs, you must make decisions that place your children’s interests above your own while trying to accommodate their other parent.
Here are some tactics that can help make creating your parenting plan/child custody agreement easier and more beneficial for your entire family.
Work on communication
No matter how good or poor the lines of communication were between you and the other parent were during the marriage, you should work on improving them now that the relationship is over. Keep in mind that you and your partner must find a way to put your differences with each other aside for the benefit of your kids to keep disagreements at bay. If you cannot converse without negative emotions or words, use written forms of communication, such as texts and emails. To realize the optimal benefits of a good parenting schedule, you and your children’s other parent must communicate efficiently and effectively about their needs and wants and potential conflicts.
Work to minimize the stress
Divorce is a major life experience for kids that can cause them a lot of stress and turmoil. The separation process is not stress-free for parents, but the decisions you make about the parenting schedule can mitigate many of the challenges you may encounter. Use schedules and try to coordinate all parenting plans with your children’s and their other guardian’s work, school and lifestyle obligations. Be flexible and considerate to motivate and encourage your ex-spouse to do the same.
