Navigating Parenting Post Divorce

Divorce can be a difficult process for a child to go through. It can add on extra stress while they are already undergoing difficulties with other things such as school, extra-curricular activities, sports, or anything else they are involved in. It is important to help them maintain organization with all the added time adjustments living in two separate households can bring. An organized child can better maintain the scheduling difficulties divorce brings.

Raising an organized child can be difficult in its own respect. It can be difficult to just get children on a regular day plan let alone an extended regular weekly schedule. While it may be overwhelming at first to set a plan for your child living in two separate households or even a blended family there are some steps you can take to ease the burden on them and yourself.

Don’t be hypocritical

As any parent knows the old moto of do as I say not as I do does not work with children. You are your children’s role model and when they see you do something; they are far more inclined to follow in your footsteps. If your children, see that you are making plans regularly and sticking to them they will be more accepting of when you try to ease them into that system as well. This can be as simple as setting times and dates for certain things, keeping things a bit more organized or even just forming habits yourself that are healthy and orderly.

Schedule family time

Schedule time for the whole family to spend time together. It is important to spend quality time and strengthen the bond you have with your children. With everyone’s busy schedule it can be hard to find time to be together and do things, so It is important to make sure you can spend that time together. Schedule individual family time as well. Not only is it important to schedule time with your whole family, if you’re a blended family, you also need to schedule time with just your children.

Create a parenting plan

This step involves both parents to be on board. Co-parenting is a major factor in keeping your children organized. If they go from one house to another and rules vary wildly it will be harder for them to maintain a healthy level of organization. You need to set rules and boundaries with your children’s other parent so the children can know what is acceptable, what isn’t and what to expect with respect to scheduling and rules. For blended family’s it is also important to know where the stepparent’s duty as a parent falls. Having these discussions with both parents and stepparents may be difficult but is vital for your child and their health.

While these steps may seem like common sense parenting strategies, they can be very difficult to implement. The added stress of divorce can make parenting even more difficult but when everyone is organized and on the same page it can make things a whole lot easier. There is no easy step by step guide to being a parent, but by laying a good organized foundation for your children it can make parenting after your divorce easier and can also set your children up for success.