Strategies for Effective Co-Parenting

 

Co-Parenting
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As a privately practicing psychologist, Dr. Miriam Galindo has offered counseling in co-parenting to many families as they go through divorce. Dr. Miriam Galindo has also worked with the court system as a custody evaluator and co-leads family reunification and co-parenting courses through the Families in Transition program.

Co-parenting can be both emotionally and logistically difficult, as it requires two people to put aside a challenging and potentially intense history to make important decisions together. To succeed, the two parties must commit to open communication that is focused entirely on the children. This means finding a different outlet for frustrations about the other parent, particularly in conversations that the children may encounter.

When children are in earshot, parents must be careful to speak only in positive ways about the other parent. This guideline is applicable when speaking to the children as well as to the other parent, who is likely to be more receptive to parenting discussions if he or she does not feel accused or put down.

Meanwhile, it is important for co-parents to keep rules and expectations consistent across households. This provides the children with a crucial sense of stability and keeps them from taking advantage of what they may perceive as an unstable parenting situation.

Children will, however, be aware that things are different. Parents should answer their questions as freely as possible, when it is age-appropriate, and reassure them about things such as when they will change houses and whether the family dog will change houses with them.

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Co-Parenting Versus Parallel Parenting

Parenting
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Dr. Miriam Galindo is a social worker and psychologist in Irvine, California. In addition to her private practice, Dr. Miriam Galindo serves on an approved panel of experts for Orange County Superior Court, where she offers child, family, and co-parenting counseling to clients involved in divorce.

Co-parenting is a situation in which divorced or separated parents provide equal care to their children. Co-parenting promotes the creation and maintenance of positive bonds between children and both of their parents and plays a key role in the academic performance and psychological adjustment of children whose parents are divorcing.

However, co-parenting requires a great deal of verbal communication and coordination between parents and is best used by parents who have a low risk of conflict. Parents with a high risk of conflict may be better suited for parallel parenting, in which the parents provide equal care for their children but remain disengaged from one another and have only limited direct contact, such as brief interactions during drop-offs.

How Co-Parenting Counseling Can Help in High-Conflict Cases

 

Co-Parenting Counseling
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  Based in Irvine, California, Dr. Miriam Galindo serves patients as a clinical social worker and psychologist through her private practice. In this capacity, Dr. Miriam Galindo provides co-parenting counseling to individuals who are navigating through high-conflict divorces.

Divorce is a difficult situation for any couple, but it is often fraught with even more challenges when the separating adults are parents. Though both individuals may be ending their partnership, their relationship as parents must endure. As such, they must learn the art of co-parenting, an arrangement that requires both adults to communicate amicably and act together to make the situation better for their children.

For some couples, this is far easier said than done. In cases of high-conflict divorce, parents may require co-parent counseling to overcome the difficulties of keeping parenting matters apart from their personal grievances with one another. When these issues go unresolved, the conflict between parents can, ultimately, become harmful to their children.

During co-parenting counseling sessions, counselors typically provide the tools that both individuals need to minimize the hostility that exists between them. In general, these professionals help the parents create an ongoing support system that focuses on a number of important co-parenting principles. For example, parents learn how to work together to put the needs of their children above all else, and how to communicate with one another in a non-hostile manner.

Sometimes, counselors help educate parents in the practice of parallel parenting, which can help alleviates the difficulties of particularly high conflict cases. By creating a firm parenting plan, parents will be able to take the necessary steps toward minimizing contact with one another and removing conflict from the equation altogether.