When you get through a divorce, you will have plenty of co-parenting options available to you. However, it might take a while to find one that suits your family dynamic. On top of that, even if you understand that cooperative co-parenting works well for children, it may seem like a difficult feat depending on how the divorce went.
If you are in such a situation, you can consider parallel parenting for the time being.
Cutting down on conflict
Psychology Today takes a look at parallel parenting and how it may benefit you. Parallel parenting helps to cut down on the possibility of confrontation and disputes by limiting your face-to-face contact. You can only speak to one another through written text, such as emails or letters. While you may have to see each other during pick-up or drop-off times, you can even schedule things so that you do not have to interact at all.
A temporary measure
However, this is only a temporary measure. The judge overseeing your divorce will periodically review your circumstances. Based on how things progress, they will decide if you should continue on the current plan, if they should make changes, or if it is time to move on from parallel parenting and onto a more cooperative and interactive form of co-parenting.
Since parallel parenting does not follow a strict timeline, it might be months or even years before you can work toward more cooperative forms of raising your child together. However, this will spare them from having to witness their parents argue, which many children of divorce cite as being one of the most traumatic parts of the experience.
