After your divorce, you may be unable to effectively communicate with your spouse without conflict arising. When you share children, your tie never truly severs, so you can have a permanent split, as you will still need to discuss parenting your children. Our child custody attorney at Law Office of Michael R. Young shares two options for parents who share custody of their children.
Co-Parenting
An extremely common method of parenting done by parents who share custody of their children, co-parenting requires parents to communicate about their children and work alongside each other. Parents who co-parent discuss parenting issues with each other and plan accordingly when they face problems. With co-parenting, both parents may attend school and athletic events, family functions, appointments, and other events together to support their children.
Co-parenting is often seen as desirable by parents who share custody of their children, as they both can be involved in the other parent’s parenting process, and they will create a unified front for their children. However, for co-parenting to be effective for everyone involved, both parents must leave their issues aside and be able to productively discuss issues regarding their children, which can be difficult following a high-conflict divorce.
Parallel Parenting
In some situations, co-parenting may not be an effective parenting option, especially for high-conflict parents. If you are unable to discuss issues with your child or your parenting decisions without conflict arising, then you may need to find another method to parent your children without constant contact with your child’s other parent.
Parallel parenting is when each parent uses their own method of parenting for their children without the contact of the other parent. When parallel parenting is used, only one parent attends your child’s school or sports functions, doctor’s appointments, and family events, so the children only spend that time with one parent at a time. While it can be effective for those unable to communicate with their former spouse, parallel parenting is typically not advised for parents who wish to parent their children together following their divorce.
Giving You The Upper Hand
Choosing a parenting style following your divorce may be complicated. Our child custody attorneys understand your focus on doing the absolute best job possible when parenting your children and are here to help you as you move on to your new chapter.
Schedule a consultation with our child custody attorney today to discuss what you should do after your divorce. 📞: (909) 315-4588