Parenting Time Tips

Here are some tips to help make parenting time go more smoothly for you, your children and the other parent. 

Anything that can be done to improve a divorce or separation will dramatically impact all those involved.  It is amazing how the little things can make all the difference:

• Do not use parenting time as an opportunity to question your children about the other parent or their friends and guests.  Respect the other parent's privacy.
• Do not use parenting time to bad mouth or talk negatively of the other parent.  Use your time with your child to enjoy your child.
• Do not try to arrange parenting time for unreasonable hours.
• Arrive and remain sober for parenting times. If you cannot make it through an overnight or weekend without drinking, you should seek treatment and reconsider your parenting time together until you feel you can control your dependency.
• Do not fail to notify the other parent as soon as possible if you are unable to keep your parenting time. It is unfair to keep the children waiting. It is terribly disappointing to children to be ready and not be picked up at all.
• Do not make extravagant promises to the children that will be difficult to keep or that you know you cannot or will not keep.
• Make copies of special photos of the children to share with the other parent and their relatives. Online services like the OurFamilyWizard website make this easy to do and creates an online back up for you.
• Let the other parent know of school events and activities. Children like to know that even though their parents are divorced, they care about what they’re doing in school and what their interests are.  Tools like the OurFamilyWizard website make this easy to do.
• Do not plan or schedule activities for your child during a time when they’re to be with the other parent, without discussing it with your ex-spouse. Using a tool like the OurFamilyWizard website can make this an easy problem to avoid.
• Make the pickup and drop-off times for your child easier by being prompt, packing sufficient clothes and supplies, and not arguing with your ex-spouse, in front of your child.  The OurFamilyWizard website can provide you the perfect for forum to share and discuss information without having to involve the children.
• Encourage communication between your children and the other parent through phone calls and sending notes, online or written.
• Don’t interfere or criticize the other parent’s method of parenting in front of the child.
• Help the child to remember important dates like the other parent's birthday.
• Let the other parent know that you appreciate his or her parenting time with the children. Tell your ex-spouse that you want him or her to be an important part of your children’s lives.
• Treat your former spouse and/or your former spouse with respect and kindness (if at all possible!). You are much more likely to obtain compromise and flexibility in parenting time schedules if you are open and willing to compromise and adapt to change.
• Assume that your children are your first priority and that their happiness and well-being is of paramount importance. This may remove the battle over whether Wife “wins” or whether Husband “wins” in visitation matters.