Living life as a co-parent isn’t an easy feat. You have to be willing to work with your ex, which can prove to be a challenge. If you are in this position, you need to find ways to keep the co-parenting relationship as positive as possible.
You might be surprised by some of the things that lead to confrontation. The important thing to remember is that as long as your child is safe, healthy and happy, you can rest easy. Here are some ways that you can make your co-parenting relationship as positive as possible:
Keep communication cool
Speaking to your ex might not be possible when you are dealing with a contentious issue. Choosing to communicate via text or email might be a better choice. Just make sure that you remember how things can read differently to different people. Without the inflection of speech, it can be difficult to determine how things come across.
Stay flexible with scheduling
Things sometimes come up that will require changes to the parenting time schedule. When this happens, remember that you and your ex need to be flexible, especially when the change is for something that your child wants to participate in. For example, there might be an activity at your ex’s work that includes children. If this happens when your child would normally be with you, it might not hurt to let your child go to the event.
Speak positively
It might be tempting to vent about your ex, but make sure that you are only speaking positively of your ex when your child is around. Even when you don’t get along, your ex is still your child’s other parent. Instead of venting, speak nicely about him or her. This might even help you to start seeing the good things about your ex.
Focus on your children
Present a united front with your co-parent. In order to do this, you need to think about what is truly important when it comes to decisions. You might find that the smaller, less important decisions are a bit easier to let go of when you think about what your child wants and needs. Even if you don’t think you are, there is a chance that you’re focusing on what you want instead of placing that emphasis on your child.
You and your ex likely have a lot of time left to work together. Trying to make the process as stress free as possible might help you to enjoy those years.
