Co-Parenting Shouldn't Be So Hard!
What is co-parenting?
Co-parenting is a term that describes a situation where the parents of a child are not living together or involved in a romantic relationship with each other, but they still work together to parent their children.
In a perfect world, there would be no divorces and mothers and fathers would stay together forever and raise their children together.
In the real world, that is unfortunately not always the case. For whatever reason, some couples cannot remain together.
When childless couples separate, they divide their property and simply part ways.
When parents separate, their families are torn apart and the children are left in the middle and the parents must learn to co-parent their children while living apart.
Even if parents get along well after they separate, co-parenting can prove challenging. It is even harder when the parents don't get along well at all.
Co-parenting can be a great thing for your child if you handle it appropriately and keep in mind that children benefit:
- By having both parents deeply connected and involved in their lives
- When both parents are supportive of each other and strive to encourage and strengthen the relationships between the children and both parents
- When parents are able to set aside their animosity toward each other and have civil relationships with each other
It may be difficult to do at first, but the sooner you and your ex can set your differences aside for the sake of your children and become parenting partners instead of parenting adversaries, the better.
Co-parenting in a positive manner brings a good level of consistency in the children's lives because the child knows that the parents are communicating and that the parents have the same standards for behavior and other issues.
However, co-parenting also brings about a unique set of challenges that parents have to overcome.
Besides getting along in general, you may find yourself facing other problems:
- It can be difficult to make a schedule that revolves around both parent's schedules.
- It can be chaotic to incorporate changes into the schedule and parents can get confused about so many drop off and pick up dates.
- Parents need a resource to help manage these issues.
That resource is Custody X Change.
The very first step to successful co-parenting is a good parenting plan (also called a custody agreement).
Your parenting plan will serve as the foundation of your co-parenting endeavors and will contain the rules you and your ex must follow as you raise you children to adulthood.
Custody X Change is a child custody software program that allows you to create your child custody agreement. You can easily create a co-parenting child custody agreement with this software.
If you can turn on a computer and hen-peck on a keyboard, you will be able to use Custody X Change with ease.
The software leads you through the steps of creating your parenting plan. You simply enter your information and the software does all the work.
The result is a comprehensive parenting plan that prints out into professional, well-organized documents.
The first step is to download the free trial. It just takes a minute to do and you don't have to give a credit card number or anything so there is no risk involved.
Once you have downloaded the software, you are ready to begin. The software really is easy to use, but if you have any questions, there are video tutorials that can help you.
After that, you simply go through each section of the software, provide your information, and answer the questions.
For example, when you use Custody X Change to create your custody and visitation schedule:
- You simply enter the times that the children will spend with each parent in a specific time period.
- You can select how often your custody cycle will repeat.
- Then you divide up the holidays and add any special events you may have to the schedule.
- The result is a printable calendar that is easy to read (and easy to make changes to).
- You can print off multiple copies of the calendar and schedule for yourself, your ex, the court mediator, and the court.
- You can even print off calendar years in advance.
Creating the rest of your parenting plan with Custody X Change is just as easy. With Custody X Change, you won't have to worry about leaving something out of the plan because the software is all inclusive.
If there happens to be anything you would like to add to your custody agreement, you can add extra stipulations to your plan.
You can use Custody X Change to help you negotiate a parenting plan with the other parent. An easy way to do this is to sit down and make a parenting plan on your own. If you and the other parent have already agreed on some aspects of co-parenting, be sure to include them in the plan.
After you have completed your proposed parenting plan, you should print off a copy of your plan and give it to the other parent to review. Ask them to write down any changes they would like to make and get it back from them later.
You should consider the suggestions of the other parent and make changes accordingly. Then print out another copy of your documents to give to the other parent for further review.
You should continue this process until you have reached an agreement or a standstill. It is so much easier to deal with the documents instead of trying to create the parenting plan face to face. The process becomes less personal as you are dealing with the papers and not your ex.
Once you have agreed on everything you are going to agree on, you can prepare a proposed parenting plan for the court or the court mediator. Be sure to highlight the items that you need help with so there is no confusion.
Besides using Custody X Change to negotiate and create your parenting plan, the software can be used long after your custody case is over.
You will be able to use and make changes to the calendar for years to come. You will always be able to see exactly when your children will be with each of you and you will be able to plan vacations years in advance without flipping through a wall calendar and counting the days.
You can make small changes to the calendar when you see that a holiday or event may conflict with the regular visitation pattern and make adjustments.
For example, if Thanksgiving falls in a way that the children would not be seeing the other parent very much that month, you can add in some extra parenting time so the children are not deprived of time with that parent.
Another feature Custody X Change has is the time share percentage report.
The software uses your custody calendar to calculate exactly how much time each of you will have with your children. This makes it much easier to divide time fairly (after all, the schedule really dictates how much time your children will be able to spend with their mother and father, not how much time you and your ex are going to have to spend with the kids)
The time share percentage report can also be used to help determine child support and to modify child support, if necessary, because you will have an accurate account of exactly how much time each parent has the children in their physical custody.
Custody X Change is a valuable tool that can help make co-parenting easier. Download your free trial of the software today and see for yourself.