FollowIt goes without saying that we all want what’s best for our children. Unfortunately, trouble arises when what’s best for our children has multiple meanings. Conflicts often escalate between divorced co-parents, when one parent wants to rear the child one way, and the other parent wants to rear the child a different way… often a diametrically opposed way. Since these differences in child-rearing were likely also contributing factors to the demise of the marriage in the first place, it’s not surprising to see them continue post-divorce. So, what are divorced parents to do? How can they co-parent and co-raise their children, when they don’t see eye-to-eye? Is a trip to the local courthouse the answer, when Mom wants Billy to play soccer and Dad wants Billy to play piano? Is it really necessary to run up attorneys’ fees arguing over sending Sally to sleep-away camp versus a local day camp? Clearly, each parent has different priorities, and those different priorities are still in the child’s best interests. There is no right or wrong, just different. These complicated differences may exist between married parents. The reality is that these matters are simply more complicated with divorced parents because there are two separate households. Two separate sets of rules. Two separate child-rearing philosophies. And your child is not a wishbone. Read more …
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