Co-Parenting: Make Life Less Stressful For Your Children
By Dachan Furnace, Esq.
Breakups may be inevitable, but co-parenting is essential. Your relationship with your children’s parent is secondary to both of your relationships with your shared children. In my practice, I help parents that are faced with tough co-parenting situations.
In an ideal situation, all children and their parents would live together under the same roof. When this is not achievable, it is crucial for children to have access to both parents – even when the parents themselves do not get along. Children brought up by both parents are overwhelmingly more likely to grow up to be successful and productive adults than children raised by a single parent. Research shows that children in cooperative co-parenting situations develop feelings of stability, benefit from consistency, and better understand problem solving. As parents, it is your responsibility to equip your children with all the resources necessary to provide them with the best life possible, and that includes ensuring they have healthy access to both parents. No matter your feelings for your children’s parent, it is essential that you both push your feelings aside to prioritize your children.
Throughout my practice, I have seen too many estranged parents allow their emotions to cloud their judgment. I have experienced parents unfairly attempt to restrict their children’s access to the other parent, falsely accuse the other parent of horrible things in an attempt to ostracize them from the children, or even outright refuse to coparent and threaten to abandon their children. Parents’ reckless and irrational decision-making has a major impact on the well-being of their children – the innocent ones caught in the middle. Before going down this ugly path, I encourage you to learn from the mistakes of others and ensure your children get what they need and deserve – both parents.
Co-parenting is the best option for your children, and I want to help you achieve that. If you are in a position where the other parent is unwilling to co-parent, or you are prevented from being a part of your children’s lives, I empower you to take steps to fix your situation. Contact me and I can walk you through the steps of filing for shared custody, drafting a custody agreement that includes a parenting schedule, and more. If you are the person that is unwilling to co-parent, I encourage you to give me a call so that we can talk through co-parenting schedules that would be suitable for your situation.