Many co-parents have a good relationship with each other; however, there are times when one parent enjoys conflict. This can make the parenting relationship difficult. The other parent will have to come up with ways to cope with the situation so that things don’t get out of hand.
In these cases, one of the most important things that the parent can do is to stick to the child custody agreement. This outlines everything regarding the parenting plan so that you know what must happen and when it needs to occur. When things don’t happen according to this, you might have legal action that you can take.
You might find that it is impossible to keep on track with a co-parenting relationship when the other adult just wants to be argumentative. In these cases, you might find it necessary to alter the style of parenting a bit.
Parallel parenting is similar to co-parenting but each parent has his or her own individuality. You won’t have to communicate as often or directly with the other parent. Instead, you can use written methods or simply leave each other be unless there is an emergency that has to be addressed.
Setting boundaries is imperative in these cases. You need to be sure that you aren’t giving the other parent too much leeway because high conflict parents might take advantage of this.
In severe cases, you might have to head back to court to have the custody agreement modified. This might give you more control over the ways that you deal with your ex, which might be helpful in these cases.
