It may be helpful to think about co-parenting as a business partnership. Your business style is your model for a good co-parenting relationship.

Keeping things positive between yourself and your co-parent, and allowing both the children and third parties to continue to acknowledge the other parent, can take special effort to cultivate. But everyone in the co-parenting family system benefits with better adjustment and mental health outcomes.

At some point all separating parents must face the difficult moment of telling the children that they will longer be living together under one roof as a family. It is important to consider timing, content and emotions of all family members when planning a joint meeting with all of the children.

Co-parents can reach agreements regarding how new significant others will be introduced to the children. These provisions stem from a recognition that each family member will adjust to the separation at a different pace. While these agreements require effort and compromise, they can reduce conflict.

Participating in parenting coordination with your co-parent may not sound like something that you really want to do. However, unless one or both co-parents have unlimited funds and find ongoing conflict in the Court rewarding in some way, you and your co-parent eventually have to start doing the work of raising your children together after the separation even though you are no longer committed as a couple.

Many co-parents include in their parenting plan a provision that when the children are at one parent’s residence, the other parent will be entitled to FaceTime call(s). These calls can contribute to conflict between the co-parents. Here are some tips on how to make FaceTime calls go well.

In Parenting Coordination trained professional mediates the conversations between co-parents who have difficulty communicating or complying with existing Agreements and Court Orders. Parenting Coordinators also serve as a resource outside the court system in the event that new conflicts and issues arise.

Tips for co-parenting include: remaining positive about your co-parent, minimizing conflict, communicating directly, respecting the child’s world and following any agreements with your co-parent.