It's tough being a parent when your children are sick. Most of the time the sickness is unpredictable and comes on at short notice. That's means a sudden change in plans so you can be home to take care of them. When I was married, my husband and I would decide who would stay home - often times it was me because it was easier for me to work from home. With divorce, it's another … [Read more...]
Boundaries Help With Stepparenting
Knowing your children are safe and well-cared for when they are with your ex puts co-parenting on a different level. For starters, it's easier to build trust and communication. Bringing new partners into the circle also adds another dimension that many of us have no experience dealing with. When Terry realized her former friend was going to be her children's stepmother, she … [Read more...]
When Your Friend Becomes Stepmom To Your Kids
One reason why divorce is painful is the feeling of rejection, rejection by your partner who's chosen to pay more attention to something else. That something else can be a multitude of things, drugs, alcohol, a sport or pastime, work, even your children. When there are third parties involved, I believe the rejection can be more painful because the choice appears more blatant. … [Read more...]
Disciplining Your Children With Your Ex
We all know that setting the rules for your children is just one side of the coin. The other side is what happens when they don't follow the rules. Again, this is an area were even happily married partners can disagree so what happens when you're co-parenting with your ex? Here's Terry: It might be that it’s their dad's weekend, so Thursday night they’re with me. Let’s say … [Read more...]
Two Homes, Two Sets Of Rules
One of the questions that inevitably comes up about co-parenting is how to deal with two homes, two rules. One of the benefits of a healthy co-parenting relationship with your ex is that it keeps the communication channels open for discussions about this. Here's Terry talking about how she and her ex work this out: My ex and I try to have the same rules at home and … [Read more...]