A separation or divorce is never easy, especially when emotions are high and you still have animus feelings towards each other. Separation can feel even more difficult when children are involved. However, if you both have your child’s best interests at heart, you will want to put your differences aside to ensure your child grows up happy and healthy. Here are four co-parenting tips to help you raise your kids together successfully after a painful separation.

Keep Your Emotions in Check

First and foremost, to nurture your child and protect their future, you need to keep your emotions in check. Your feelings towards your ex need to take a back seat if you don’t want your child to be negatively impacted by the split. It might be difficult to set aside feelings of animosity, but this is a fundamental step toward successful co-parenting.

Get Co-Parent Support

A healthy way to approach co-parenting is to get professional support from an expert. Here are a few ways professional support can help you take care of your child properly.

• Two Healthy Homes – co parenting advice from a licensed psychologist, like Dr. Erica Ellis from Two Healthy Homes, can give you perspective on your relationship. It can also give you the strength to care for your child without your emotions getting in the way. With professional parenting advice, you will be able to put your child’s upbringing first.
• Co-parenting classes – these types of classes are designed to give parents the skills and resources necessary to forge a successful co-parenting relationship. Co-parenting classes will reduce the likelihood of your child experiencing emotional hardship from the separation.
• Co-parenting counseling – one or both parents can partake in counseling to help you overcome emotional obstacles so that you can focus on raising your child effectively.

Put Your Child’s Needs First

When emotions are high, it is easy for both parties to involve other people in their disputes. Unfortunately, this can mean children get dragged into the mix. When it comes to separation, you need to put your child’s needs first and keep them out of arguments you have with your ex.

Don’t communicate with your ex through your child, and don’t be tempted to use them to provoke your ex in any way. When going through separation and divorce, it is important to focus on your child’s welfare and behave in a way that won’t negatively impact them.

Communicate Like Business Associates

A great way to keep your emotions at bay is to communicate with your ex as you would with business associates. In other words, focus on being respectful and try to be non-emotional when you communicate with your ex. Those who wish to co-parent should have a clear and detailed parenting plan that specifies how you communicate, the logistics related to your child and child-rearing responsibilities. Try to make your plan as concise as possible so that there is less chance of things going wrong and emotions spiking.

Jane