With school back in session, you and your kids have more things going in your lives. This can cause some additional stress and tension for divorced parents who will need to communicate to establish logistics and routines for their children’s school and extracurricular activities. Here are some tips to keep the tension down, keep everyone on the same page, and make sure that your child has a successful school year.
1.) Create a Joint Calendar:
Creating a calendar with all upcoming events will keep everyone in the loop and also ensures that your child does not miss any school or extracurricular activities.
2.) Split the Back to School Costs:
You can split up the items you and your ex-spouse purchase for back to school so it equals to about the same cost, but if one person is better at getting all the little things and the other can get a couple bigger items, it eases the burden on you both.
3.) Be Considerate of Your Ex-Spouse:
If your ex-spouse is going to miss an important event, take a picture. If the teacher tells you about something that happened at school, make sure to share that information. Withholding information from your ex-spouse serves no purpose other than to put your child in the middle of adult problems. It’s important to remember that in every situation, both parents want what’s best for their child. Being considerate of that and the other person will ensure that your child knows they are loved and cared for despite a difficult situation.
4.) Inform Your Child’s Teachers:
Let your child’s teacher know what’s going on at home. This will help the teacher know how to handle a situation or even simply know who can pick up your child from school.
5.) Talk About How Your Child Is Doing In School:
This will ensure that no homework or projects fall through the cracks. It will also prevent your child from having to be the go between or the one responsible for communication and keeping up with everything. Kids should be allowed to be kids!
6.) Create a Unified Front When It Comes to Your Child’s Education.
This may be the last tip, but it’s probably the most important. You and your ex-spouse need be on the same page not only how you raise and discipline your child but on how you approach your child’s education. Sending conflicting messages will only be to the detriment of your son or daughter. If your child gets a bad grade, how will you and your ex-spouse approach this subject? If your ex-spouse tells your son he can’t go to baseball practice because he is doing poorly in math and needs to focus on his grades, will you support that decision? Having a unified front will provide a sense of normalcy that was lost during the divorce and help your child to cope with the new family unit.
