How to stay emotionally safe during difficult co-parenting

Are you struggling to successfully navigate your co-parenting relationship with your child’s other parent? If so, you’re certainly not alone. Many parents in Pennsylvania find themselves facing tension and conflict as they work out scheduling and time-sharing arrangements.

But when the friction intensifies, it can negatively impact your child, harming their emotional and psychological well-being. In turn, the other parent might accuse you of causing that damage, which could result in you losing time with your kid.

How can you protect yourself and your child in a co-parenting relationship?

The good news is that you can take control of your co-parenting relationship to a certain extent. You can do so by implementing following:

• Careful communications so that you don’t say something that can be taken out of context and used against you.
• Avoidance of using your child as a messenger, as your kid could end up feeling trapped in the middle of excessive conflict when they’re forced to take sides or play telephone.
• Renewed focus on the child’s best interests instead of attacking or getting back at the other parent.
• The use of an app that assists in scheduling and communicating while reducing the amount of direct contact that you have to have with the other parent.
• A self-care strategy that makes it easier for you to release your emotions without lashing out at the other parent or your child.

Consider legal action if your co-parenting relationship doesn’t improve

These are just a few of the many ideas that you can implement to try to protect yourself and your children in a tense co-parenting relationship. But if your co-parenting relationship continues to deteriorate to the point that it negatively impacts your child, then you might need to think about taking legal action in the form of a custody modification.

To learn more about what that might entail, you may want to research the law and your options for support.