If you’re going through a divorce, you’ll soon realize that your life will change in many ways.
For example, if you have a child with your ex-spouse, it’s imperative to have a clear idea of your roles moving forward. Remember this: You always need to do whatever is in the best interest of your child.
While co-parenting can be easy at times, it goes without saying that there is always potential for challenges to arise.
When you’re familiar with the top co-parenting challenges up front, it can be much easier to avoid complications in the future. Here are just a few of the many things you should watch for:
- Talking poorly about the other parent. If you want to think about these things on your own time, so be it. However, you never want to do so with your child. There is no benefit to disparaging the other parent in front of your child.
- Lack of consistency. This is a top challenge, as both parents will have their own way of doing things. You need to work through these details with your ex-spouse, all with the idea of remaining as consistent as possible. For example, if you make your child go to bed at 10 p.m. but the other parent implements a bedtime of 8 p.m., it could create some unnecessary challenges.
- Giving up control. Now that you are divorced, you need to get on board with the idea of letting the other parent make decisions on his or her own. You no longer have the power to interject.
- Lack of flexibility. Even though you want to stick with your co-parenting schedule, there will be times when this is not possible. You need to maintain some level of flexibility to keep things in order.
There are many challenges of co-parenting, with these four often getting in the way.
If you’re concerned about these situations, do your best to hedge off trouble before it turns into something serious. Knowing your parenting agreement and legal rights can help you make better decisions.