If asked about your concerns related to co-parenting, you may respond, “Where do I start?” Co-parenting is often a complex and challenging venture. Thankfully, many individuals have successfully navigated their own co-parenting relationships and may be able to provide you with positive and affirming answers to many of your most pressing concerns.
Certainly, if you have legal concerns about your co-parenting relationship, it may be best to ask your attorney about these issues directly. However, many co-parenting concerns are more practical than they are legal in nature. For example, you may be concerned about how to best support your children given the challenging makeup of your co-parenting relationship.
There is no one single “right” answer to this or really to any co-parenting question. The long and the short of co-parenting is that it is a relationship you must navigate in ways that are right for you, possible under the circumstances and significantly reflect your child’s best interests. It is for this reason that you may benefit from reading co-parenting memoirs, researching co-parenting stories online and seeking co-parenting support groups.
Although these ideas may not seem ideal at first, especially because you likely do not have much time on your hands, they may help you tremendously. Learning from the experience of others will help you to formulate your own positive answers to common co-parenting questions without forcing yourself into a specific “mold.”
It is worth noting that flexibility, openness and willingness to evolve with your co-parent are all important characteristics that you may want to consider embracing while researching successful co-parenting relationships in any form.
Source: The Huffington Post, “10 Key Questions for Caring Co-Parents to Support the Kids You Love!,” Rosalind Sedacca, July 6, 2015