Your Ex-Spouse’s Parenting Time Can Bring Out the Best in You

Being a parent is a 24/7 job. You are always on duty, even when you are asleep. You are responsible for every bill, every meal and snack, every diaper or bathroom trip, every bath, every school drop off and pick up, and every doctor’s appointment. Somehow, you remember the names of all your children’s friends and most of their favorite YouTubers. In the middle of all of this, you lost yourself, and perhaps you lost your relationship with your spouse, too. Going through a divorce only made the stress of parenting worse, and now your ex has moved out, and you have a parenting plan in place. Yes, it was you and your ex who set the terms of the parenting plan, but a judge signed it, and now it is a legally binding court order. This weekend, from Friday evening until Sunday evening, according to your court-ordered parenting plan, your ex-spouse is responsible for your children, and you are not. For help thinking through the implications of this scenario, contact a Boca Raton child custody lawyer.

Making the Best of Your Alone Time

The first time your children spend the weekend with your ex-spouse, you may feel that you are at loose ends. You will probably miss them terribly. Even if you spend the whole weekend longing for their return, you will find that when they come back, you are more emotionally present than you would have been if you had not had the weekend to recharge. Eventually, you will start to look forward to the times when your children are at your ex-spouse’s house, since it is only for a few days at a time. You will have a new routine, where weekends are for more sleep, housework, or socializing than you have done in recent memory. You can even use the time to take on well-paying work that you could not do if it happened while you were with your children 365 nights per year. If your job pays extra for the midnight shift, then rock on with your midnight shift when your children are at your ex-spouse’s house.

Letting Go and Trusting Your Ex-Spouse

When parents micromanage each other, it does not do anyone’s family dynamics any favors. Perhaps your spouse went from being your best friend to being someone who finds fault with the way you bathe your children or who is too pushy and arrogant when talking to your children’s teachers. The nice thing about a court-ordered parenting time is that it clearly indicates who is the boss on which days of the year. If it drives you crazy how much your ex obsesses about protein in your children’s diets, you don’t have to listen to it during your ex’s parenting time, but you must acknowledge that it is your ex’s parenting time, and you cannot stop him from obsessing about protein.

Contact Schwartz | White About Making Peace With Co-Parenting

A South Florida family law attorney can help you trust yourself and your ex-spouse so that you can have a peaceful co-parenting relationship.  Contact Schwartz | White in Boca Raton, Florida about your case.

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