Co-parenting As Friends

One of the hardest things to do after a relationship breakdown is co-parent. It’s not that you both don’t know how to be parents, but it’s that you both have to learn to parent together while being apart. It’s not an easy concept and it’s often wrought with emotional issues and power struggles. Co-parenting is all about sharing duties of raising children and it’s important that you know that as a family, you are still together as one despite separation or divorce. Co-parenting together? It’s tough! You have to be ready to guard your heart and maintain a presence in each other’s lives that is beneficial for children, and that’s not easy at all. 

The arrangement feels like a straightforward and easy one, but because of the emotions of a relationship breakdown, it becomes far messier over time. Parenting together may have been easier, but when you’re apart you have far more issues to contend with. While you can get some family help from legal minds like Natalie Chase, you still need to be aware of your own feelings while you try to co-parent as friends. Below, we’ve got some of the best co-parenting tips that you can use when you are trying to navigate life apart.

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• Remember to compromise. You are working together here. Just because your love for each other dissolved, doesn’t mean that your collective love for your children did. There will be hurdles and that’s not a secret, but you have to compromise for things to work. Picking and choosing your battles while avoiding making demands of each other is important. 
• Think about your words. You might not always be able to find kind words with each other, but it’s vital that you always remember that those words need to remain kind when you talk to your children about each other. Respect is a big thing for children to see and it’s up to you both to model that respect. 
• Make it okay to be on your own. You will always notice that you have a lot of alone time now that you’re not together. You have to be okay with this! It’s going to take some time, but life will be much easier for you when you get okay with alone time. Focus on the positives when you are co-parenting. That time will come back and you’ll be able to use it as you want to for a change.
• Get some support. For co-parenting to work, you need a village around you. Surround yourself with friends and family and you’ll be able to deal with co-parenting with ease. A good village of people will help you to feel as if you are being successful at something. The more you lean on others, the more you’ll find that you have a world of support and your feeling alone is just a feeling.

Being friends after a relationship breakdown isn’t the easiest thing to be. It is possible; you just have to learn to work together.