Even though your divorce is behind you, co-parenting with your ex will ensure that you remain in contact well into the future. And when that happens, there’s a greater chance of complications regarding custody, visitation and other related details.
Fortunately, there are steps you can take and tips you can follow to prevent co-parenting complications. Here are five things you should attempt to do:
- Communicate: Even if you don’t want to communicate with your ex, it’s a must if you want to keep the peace and remain on the same page. Don’t do it for yourself, do it for your children.
- Follow your parenting agreement: You have a parenting agreement and visitation schedule, so you might as well follow the terms and conditions. If you both do so, to the best of your ability, it reduces the risk of a disagreement.
- Show your flexibility: If your ex needs you to be flexible, such as changing a visitation date or time, see if you can accommodate their request. You don’t want to make it a habit, but flexibility is important to maintaining a good co-parenting relationship.
- Don’t let everything turn into an argument: There’s a good chance your relationship with your ex is already on bad terms. This makes it easy to argue about any disagreement. Rather than let this happen, get into the habit of keeping your cool and walking away from bad situations.
- Make decisions with everyone in mind: Yes, you need to do what’s best for you at times. But when making any decision, do so in the best interests of your ex and your children, too. It’s hard to get into this frame of mind, but it’s critical if you want to maintain a reasonably friendly relationship while giving your children stability.
It’s not always easy to follow this co-parenting advice, but making an effort will go a long way in helping your situation. If your ex does the same, you’ll soon realize that you’re on the right path to co-parenting success.
Conversely, if your ex cares more about arguing and less about parenting, you may need to review your agreement with the idea of potentially requesting a modification from the court.
