Your ex will inevitably make different parenting decisions than you and up to a point you'll have to learn to accept that those are their decisions. When those decisions impact your child's safety however, you have a responsibility to speak up and take action. For the last four years my current guest, Tina has been involved in an ongoing custody battle with her ex for their … [Read more...]
Nesting Arrangements Are Difficult
Nesting arrangements seem like the trendy thing in custody arrangements especially when considering how to make your children's lives easier. However, they are not easy and are fraught with challenges. My current guest, Tina Swithin has two daughters who were two and four years-old when the marriage ended. At that time, Tina had no idea how bad her relationship with her … [Read more...]
Wisdom From Divorce: Parenting Is More Than Custody
Parents are often concerned that divorce will mean not spending as much time with their children and not seeing them as frequently. While parenting time is governed by your legal agreement there are often many other opportunities for you to stay involved with your child. My STBX was given temporary custody of our daughter but as her mother I still have rights. I now go to … [Read more...]
Why You Can’t Be Your Child’s Friend
by Janet Lehman, MSW Here’s the truth: if being your kids’ friend was enough to raise them successfully, we would all probably parent that way. But our job is way more complicated than that. Children and teens really crave boundaries, limits and structure. At the same time, they also need some healthy separation from us as they go through adolescence and develop into adults. … [Read more...]
Succeeding As A Parent After Divorce
There's a danger in talking about being a successful parent that you get embroiled in a debate about how to measure success. I think that misses the point. To me, there is no universal definition - it's all about how the person themselves defines success and that's why in my interviews I'm careful to ask, "What do you regard as your most significant accomplishment since getting … [Read more...]