In today’s world, separation and divorce are quite common among couples and is considered the final step to end a toxic relationship or marriage. But when children are involved in the process, the parents have to handle the situation very carefully. In such cases, the complete absence of communication is kind of impossible. At least for the sake of the kids, willing parents should put their differences behind and work in collaboration for their children’s betterment. Therefore, meetings and interactions become inevitable between the parents. Though co-parenting is quite popular to handle such situations, nowadays parallel parenting is also very common.

What is Parallel Parenting?

According to the child support team of Montessori Anaheim CA, parallel parenting is an arrangement where one divorced parent can co-parent without disturbing or interfering with the parenting style of the other parent. Sometimes it so happens that the situation between the parents is hostile and parallel parenting ideal to minimizes the interaction between the two. So, they are less likely to meet or talk. In this parenting process, the two adults can do parenting in their own way without maintaining any cordial relationship with their ex.

Tips to make Parallel Parenting successful

Divorced parents who are planning to abide by the parallel parenting plan can follow the below-mentioned tips shared by the Preschool Anaheim CA team.

1. Sharing time with children – In parallel parenting, it is of vital importance to determine with whom kids are going to spend their weekdays and weekends. Vacations, holidays, and special day celebrations should be planned well in advance to avoid any confusion.
2. A predetermined location for pick-ups and drop-offs – Since the main objective of this parenting plan is to reduce the interaction between the separated parents, the kids should not be dropped at any of the parents’ house. There should be a predetermined pick-up and drop-off spot between both the homes, like a mutual friend’s or a relative’s house.
3. Decide how to deal with the cancellations – Despite making all the plans well in advance nobody can foresee the emergencies. So, plan cancellations are bound to happen on both ends. Hence, as per the child support team of Preschool Anaheim CA, it is wise to have a plan to handle such situations with little understanding and maturity.
4. Have a plan to ease any dispute – Although the primary goal behind parallel parenting is to keep conflicts to a minimum level, at some point in time they may happen. There should be a mediator, appointed by the court, to resolve the issues. Instead of having back and forth with each other, an appointment can be filed with the mediator to mitigate the disputes.
5. PTMs and visiting doctors – The more detailed the plan, the better it is for all as it leaves no room for any uncertainty or manipulation. So, it is better to decide beforehand who is going to attend the school PTMs and who is responsible for the doctor visits and vaccinations (if there is any).