Many divorces end on bad terms. This is one matter if there are no children involved, but if the couple has joint custody, they must find a way to work together as parents. Depending on the causes behind the divorce, this may seem an insurmountable challenge.
Traditional co-parenting is not the best approach for all situations. Some families benefit from the parallel parenting option. According to Healthline, parallel parenting allows the children to benefit from joint custody, while also reducing the conflict between the parents.
What does parallel parenting look like?
With a “regular” co-parenting situation, the parents may still come together to celebrate holidays and birthdays, and also attend dance recitals or sports events. They may even bring their new partners to these group outings.
With parallel parenting, usually, all of this is separate. The parents may split holidays, or have multiple birthday celebrations. This allows the child to experience these events with both parents but also keeps the parents separated.
How do the children benefit?
Even if you harbor ill feelings toward your ex, this helps remove that conflict from the parenting situation. You should still be able to put your feelings aside to be able to focus wholly on the children. You might also find that a period of parallel parenting helps to ease the ill-feelings and you may be able to “graduate” to regular co-parenting after some time. However, in some situations, the parallel parenting situation is permanent.
Parallel parenting is a good solution to a tough situation. It helps turn a bad divorce into a positive parenting situation.
