Another School Year, Another Back-To-School Parenting Challenge?

It seems like summer has just started, and from an astronomical perspective, it has.  Summer vacation goes by quickly, and although your children might be in denial about this fact, a new school year is just around the corner.  Many parents and kids regard the last day of summer vacation, before the new school year begins, with trepidation, but none more so than divorced parents and their children.  Perhaps, last summer, you thought that your family had adjusted to a new normal, but you and your ex had a blowout fight the day before classes started, and it cast a dark shadow over the whole school year.  Your best defense against a repeat of last year’s back to school drama is to get all your plans in order now for the coming school year.  Every co-parent knows that you can only control your own behavior, not other people’s, but the more proactive you are now, the less likely it is that your ex will throw another temper tantrum in the last week of August about the cost of after school care or that your child will be carpooling to school with a friend that your ex thinks is bad news.  For help resolving co-parenting conflict, whether or not it requires a modification of the parenting plan, contact a Birmingham child custody lawyer.

Coping With Back-to-School Co-Parenting Conflict

Taking the time during divorce mediation to hash out all the details of parenting time, including school days, weekends, and holidays, can help you avoid conflict with your ex-spouse after your divorce becomes final.  If your ex keeps accusing you of being an unfit parent and proposing highly impractical parenting plans that would give you minimal parenting time, the judge can see through it.

Sometimes, though, the children’s schedule changes from one year to the next, and the parents must agree on how to adapt to it.  These are some changes that can present co-parenting challenges:

• One of your children will be entering a new school, with different start or end times than the previous school
• One of your children will be participating in a sport or other extracurricular activity that requires travel
• The parent who has parenting time on school days has relocated, so the children have a different neighborhood school

You may need to modify the parenting plan if the children’s transportation needs have changed, for example, since the parenting plan includes provision about transportation.  If the child’s sports travel is divided among the parent’s parenting days, does whichever parent is with the child bear the responsibilities of sports travel?  Does Mom handle all sports travel and then compensate Dad for the days when the child was traveling for sports with Mom during Dad’s parenting time?  Parenting plans do not address financial matters, but you and your ex will need to reach an agreement about the costs of transportation, childcare, and equipment associated with the child’s new schedule.

Contact Peeples Law About Resolving Co-Parenting Drama

A Birmingham family law attorney can help you modify your parenting plan or otherwise work out issues with your ex as your children grow older.  Contact Peeples Law today to schedule a consultation.

Source:

talkingparents.com/parenting-resources/coparenting-back-to-school