Personal Injury Lawyer
If your relationship with your child’s other parent is tense and prone to high levels of conflict, you may be wondering how you can ever reach a place where you can co-parent effectively. Would it make you feel relieved to learn that you may be able to alter that goal to a reality that is potentially both healthier and more manageable? When a child’s parents are prone to tension and conflict, a traditional co-parenting model may not be the right choice for that parenting relationship. Instead, with the help of an experienced family law attorney, a child’s parents may be able to lay a foundation for a healthy, effective parallel parenting relationship instead.
Parallel Parenting – The Basics
In a traditional co-parenting relationship, a child’s parents regularly communicate in order to make mutual decisions related to that child’s welfare. A parallel parenting relationship minimizes the amount of communication required between parents in order to cut down on the potential for conflict. Certainly, if parents have joint legal and/or physical custody of their child, some communication is necessary. Determining where a child will go to school and whether a child will undergo a major medical procedure will necessitate communication between both parents. However, day-to-day decision-making is largely kept separate in a parallel parenting situation. Subject to any restrictions outlined in a child’s parenting agreement, parents are allowed to make general decisions for their child whenever that child is in their individual care.
It can be difficult to let go of control over one’s child when that child is with his or her other parent. But in exchange for this release of control, an individual parent assumes the right to be free of the child’s other parent’s control when that child is entrusted into that parent’s care. This arrangement can potentially empower a family to behave in healthier lower-conflict ways that directly benefit any minor children affected by a high-conflict parenting relationship.
Legal Guidance Is Available
If you have questions about child custody determinations, parenting agreements, co-parenting or parallel parenting, please do not hesitate to connect with an experienced family law attorney today. There is no single “right” way to parent a child. This reality holds true whether parents remain romantically involved or have gone their separate ways. Experienced family law attorneys are invested in helping parents find the healthiest arrangement possible in pursuit of their children’s best interests. If parallel parenting seems like a healthy alternative to co-parenting for your family, our firm can help devise a solid legal strategy that will support that arrangement.
Consultations are generally confidential, so you should not feel shy or otherwise hesitant about seeking legal guidance and exploring your options. Similarly, speaking with a lawyer will not commit you to any particular action, so you should feel free to reach out. If your relationship with your child’s other parent could benefit from a parallel approach, please consider reaching out today. There is no time like the present to build a stronger, healthier reality for you, your child, and your family generally.
