During a long or particularly frustrating divorce, you may worry that co-parenting will challenge you in ways you cannot handle.
However, navigating post-divorce child care with your ex-spouse is not always stressful. Learning how to successfully communicate and enforce boundaries will help you both to focus on your children without any added annoyances.
Expect to compromise
According to Healthline, co-parents often need time to readjust their schedules and understand how the new child custody dynamic works. Since holidays and other events are usually shared, it means you will have to compromise on who gets the children and at what times.
Talk about this in advance so that neither one of you feel surprised at the last minute. Many find it helpful to keep children in their typical routines before the divorce, such as spending time with one side of the family on some holidays and then spending time with the other side for the rest of the holidays.
Keep communication brief
Sending consistent texts or emails can be beneficial for communicating with your ex-spouse. However, if you find yourself feeling irritated, make sure to not take it out on him or her.
By setting boundaries for when and how you both can communicate about child care topics, you can prevent fights. Some people even find it helpful to involve a neutral third party.
Focus on the future
Constantly bringing up issues with your ex-spouse in the past will only hurt you both, and will serve to drive a wedge between any healthy relationship in the future. Instead of venting your frustrations over problems that have already occurred, focus more on what lies ahead and the daily lives of your children.
