If you share custody of your children with your ex-spouse, it’s already time to start prepping yourself (and your children) for the coming school year.
As always, cooperation is key when it comes to co-parenting, and it’s essential to keep the best interests of your children in mind. Here are some of the things you and your co-parent need to discuss.
Scheduling
Parenting time can get complicated by school schedules, especially if your kids are involved in extracurricular activities. Adding the school calendar to an e-calendar that you and your co-parent can both access can ease communication problems and help keep everybody on their routine.
The benefit of a shared calendar is that you can easily keep each other informed about special events, like band concerts, school plays and field trips.
An emergency plan
If you haven’t already considered this, you and your co-parent need to develop a disaster plan. You don’t want to have to guess where your children are if there’s an emergency at home or the school.
Make sure that you work with your children to help them memorize both parents’ phone numbers and establish a family meeting place in case you, your children and your co-parent are all separated.
Homework
Kids do best in school when they have a routine and clear expectations. Work with your co-parent to establish agreed-upon parameters when it comes to academics.
For example, if the kids are younger, you may want to institute a “homework before playtime” rule in both houses and try to agree on whether the kids can have the TV or their music on while they study.
Co-parenting after divorce can be difficult. However, an effective parenting plan can make it easier for everyone. If you’re having trouble working through things, experienced legal guidance can help.
