In all child custody matters, the child can fare the best if the parents can work together to adjust the flexible aspects of the agreement to suit the child’s needs. There are some instances in which this won’t be possible; however, you and your ex need to evaluate the underlying concerns to determine if the reason for the difficulties is that the adults are letting their own feelings get in the way of doing what’s best for the children.
It isn’t always easy to put your children first in these cases. In some cases, a combative ex will know exactly what buttons to push to get you upset. These uncooperative individuals will do whatever they can to cause difficulties with everything. It can be challenging to deal with this, but it isn’t impossible.
One thing that you should do is to determine what areas of co-parenting cause issues. In many cases, there are one or two that cause more issues than any others. When you know what those are, such as shared expenses or exchange days, you can try to address them in the parenting agreement. These are the ones that you might have to stand firm on.
Another point to remember is that battling right back on these matters can often cause more problems than what you should have to deal with. In these cases, you need to evaluate things and determine if the situation is serious enough for you to force your hand and stand your ground. If it isn’t, you might fare better if you just back away.
No matter what issues you are battling over, be sure that you keep records of what is going on. You might find this useful if you do end up needing to go to court for a child custody modification.
