On behalf of The Walters Law Group, Ltd. posted in Divorce on Tuesday, September 24, 2013.
Divorced parents living in Chicago often discover that one of the most difficult aspects of managing their post-divorce life is finding successful ways to co-parent their children. While parenting can be a challenging endeavor under even the best of circumstances, parenting after a divorce requires former spouses to take extra steps so that they can avoid putting their children into situations where they feel insecure or unsafe.
It is important for divorced parents to refrain from saying negative things about each other in front of their children. Making negative comments about a former spouse to children can create a situation in which they may feel pressured to side with one parent over the other. It is also important for divorced parents to encourage their children to work through any disagreements that they may have with their former spouse rather than letting the situation escalate into a long-term conflict.
When there is an honest difference of opinion about a parenting issue, it is important to maintain a respectful tone so that the discussion stays focused on the issues at hand and not on any lingering acrimony remaining from the divorce. If conversations become too heated to reach any productive conclusion, divorced couples should agree to end the discussion and try again at a later time. Even in situations where one divorced spouse disagrees with the parenting decisions of their former partner, compromise is a better approach than conflict for the emotional health of their children.
Divorced couples often invest a lot of time negotiating child care issues with their former spouse. Attorneys working in the area of family law may be able to offer professional guidance to families dealing with complex parenting and custody issues.
Source: Huffington Post, “Navigating Loyalty in Divorce“, Dr. Peggy Kruger Tietz, September 17, 2013