Most of you will remember the ‘conscious uncoupling’ of Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin in 2014. It appeared amicable, respectful and very child focused but that’s not always the case for separating parents.
Relationship breakdowns can be hard. Parents are often consumed with their own grief and anger and struggle with the legal and emotional issues surrounding separation. It’s not always easy for parents to step outside of the separation bubble and focus on how it’s affecting their children.
Involving children in parental conflict can have a damaging long term effects for children and for the parent child relationships, so how can we avoid it?
Effective communication is the key. Co-parenting requires parents to exchange information, usually on a daily basis, about a myriad of things including changeover times, parent teacher interviews, what to pack for the other parent’s home, problems at school, weekend sports, birthday parties and medical issues and this can often be challenging for parents while the breakdown of the relationship is still raw.
In most situations communication will improve over time but until then there are a number of purpose built Apps on the market now which can assist separating parents to communicate effectively and share the information they need to co parent effectively.
Most of the Apps come with calendars, planners, messaging, photo sharing functions, expense logging features and best of all inbuilt profanity blockers and prompts for the user to reconsider the tone or content of a message! Check out Divvito, Two Houses, MyMob, eCommBook or Our Family Wizard to see what would work best for your family.
If we can assist you with parenting matters, or any other family law issues, please contact us for an appointment with one of our solicitors today.
