Getting through divorce is a difficult hurdle to clear for you, your co-parent and your child. It can leave deep and painful scars that will take a while to heal, and sometimes, these scars can interfere with your ability to co-parent.
However, you do not have to immediately give up on any hopes of co-parenting successfully. Instead, consider parallel parenting, which can serve as a stepping stone on the way to more cooperative forms of custody.
How does it work?
Healthline looks into parallel parenting plans with mutual benefits. Parallel parenting serves as a temporary form of custody with the intention of benefiting parents who wish to eventually collaborate as co-parents, but cannot currently do so, often because of tension, anger and negative emotions left behind from the divorce.
Through parallel parenting, you can only communicate with each other by written text. This can include anything from emails to texts to hand-written letters. You can even avoid conversation by documenting necessary information in a notebook and passing the notebook between each other.
What is the purpose?
Of course, the purpose of this measure is to give you and your co-parent time and space after divorce to heal. Theoretically, with more distance, you will have an easier time healing from the split. You will have far fewer chances to get into arguments, which can aid in the recovery process.
Eventually, a judge will evaluate your situation and determine if you should continue as-is, if your arrangement needs changes, or if it is time to end parallel parenting and move on to more cooperative forms of raising your child together.