As parents going through a divorce, you have likely looked through plenty of options for how to handle co-parenting together. Experts everywhere often suggest some form of shared custody, but what happens if you and your co-parent simply cannot get along?
The good news is, you do not have to immediately give up all hope of working together with your co-parent to give your child the best life after divorce. Instead, you can consider parallel parenting.
Using only text and writing to communicate
As Psychology Today states, parallel parenting holds many benefits for families. This form of parenting allows for you and your co-parent to share custody without having to interact with one another directly.
Instead of in-person meetings or phone calls, you will instead communicate through writing or text. This can take many forms, including emails, phone text messages or even messages on a third-party application. Depending on certain factors, a court may mandate the use of specific applications that allow for the court to monitor your communication with one another.
You can even choose to write things down in a notebook, which will travel between homes with your child. In this notebook, you can write details of visitations or important notes to pass on to your co-parent.
The benefits of parallel parenting
This allows you to keep open and honest communication, helping each other parent your child together. At the same time, you get the distance you need to take an emotional step back when you must. You can tamp down on any kneejerk reactions and keep yourself from getting into arguments, simultaneously sparing your child from having to witness them. In short, it serves as a net win for everyone.
