While moving through divorce can seem like an insurmountable obstacle, for many parents it is just the beginning of a new and equally intimidating challenge: co-parenting your children. Divorced parents who choose to live relatively close to one another so as not to disturb the school, sports and other related schedules of their children, certainly deserve credit and acknowledgement.
In this excellent blog posting Rosalind Sedacca offers six guidelines to remember that will help make your new co-parenting relationship work:
Don’t bad-mouth your ex around the kids, ever!
Never fight around your children.
Always offer your ex the opportunity for special times with the kids – before involving a new relationship partner, i.e.: taking your teen for their drivers test or tryouts for a new sport.
Prioritize Mom and Dad being together for special occasions: celebrating birthdays, graduations and other significant events.
You and your ex won’t agree on all things so decide to pick your battles regarding parenting issues.
Use an online scheduling tool to keep straight about visit swaps, school activities, sports, vacations, holidays, parties and who is doing what – when!