Things to Think About If You Are Co-Parenting

Depending on the attitudes of the parents, co-parenting can be a very stressful endeavor. There is already so much that goes into raising children, to share the responsibility with someone outside your household, ironically, can put even more strain on your responsibilities as a parent. 

There are ways you can lessen the stress, though. You simply need to keep a few principles in mind. You can use tools found online to help you implement these principles. These successful coparenting strategies have been proven to help in the awkward relationship that is co-parenting. Read on to find out all the details on them. 

Things to Think About If You Are Co Parenting 1

Keeping Communication Open

The key to any relationship is communication, and that even goes for co-parents. However, strained the relationship is, there has to be a clear effort to keep communication open and civil for the sake of your child. 

Even if you have a good relationship with your co-parent, you should think about how you can keep communication open whilst not intruding on their life. Chatroom mobile apps are a good way to keep a middle ground between no communication and too much. 

While you can simply stick to Facebook Messenger or Snapchat, there are apps out there that are designed for co-parents. The main difference is that they don’t allow for the altering of messages. You won’t be able to delete anything, and you will therefore have an accurate document of everything said in the conversation. 

Talking Parent is a good example of an app that does this. You can store and send files, you will have access to call transcripts and recordings, and messages remain unaltered with use. 

Keeping Track of the Kids

The ability to track your children is already an attractive concept to parents who have a fear of Stranger Danger, but when you co-parent, you are putting your trust in another person to keep an eye on your child. 

Plus, between visits, school, out-of-school activities, and their social lives, it’s easy for wires to get crossed when transporting your child around. Before you know it, you’ll be receiving a call from a dance teacher wondering why your child is still sitting at the building entrance. 

If you feel comfortable giving your child a phone, you can download a number of tracking apps to keep an eye on your child. You won’t have to rely on them knowing the area to tell you where they are, and if they’ve started walking home, you’ll be able to catch up to them. 

A good example of a safety app is FamiSafe, which not only tracks your child but keeps an eye on their activity online. If you are worried about what could reach them via the internet, download FamiSafe for the best child protection and content blocking. 

And its tracking capabilities? Well, you can create a safe “Geofence” around areas like your home or school and be notified if they start to wander outside the approved zones. It means that you will know that while they are with their co-parent, they are definitely with their co-parent. 

Keeping on Top of the Finances

Ideally, co-parenting means splitting the finances equally. This is rarely so easy to gain. Asking for money is already an awkward conversation, even in the best of relationships, so the simpler you can make it, the better. 

Onward allows you to really simplify the process. Working with Venmo and Cashapp, the app allows you to keep track of what needs to be paid for and by whom. Share expenses like football uniforms and piano lessons on the app and your co-parent will be notified. With minimum conversation around the issue, you will avoid nagging and conflict and simply gain a notification that says “Piano lessons: $200. Dad has paid.”

You will gain an automatic paper trail of expenses, and you can review monthly reports categorized by child and month so that you know for sure that both parties are paying their way. Plus, you can export all the data onto an Excel spreadsheet so that the data can be used in court. 

Keeping Events Organized

Having a shared calendar is invaluable to any parent. As already mentioned, children have busy lives. There is school, almost weekly birthday parties, after-school activities and family visits all to be accounted for and on top of that, they need you to get them there. This means that everything they are going to, you are going to. 

So, negotiating who is going where, and when, quickly becomes an important aspect of co-parenting. You can avoid clashes and negotiate events much easier with a shared calendar. The most common one is Google Calendar, which means there will be less of a fight to suggest using it, but another app has been embraced by co-parents. Cozi offers color-coded calendars so that you can see what event is associated with which family member. You can sync as many family members as you feel like. Grandma is taking the kids to the zoo in yellow, Mom is taking them to football in green, etc. And everyone will gain a notification if there are any clashes. 

Keeping Disputes to a Minimum

If you are worried about the legality of it all, you will need OurFamilyWizard. OurFamilyWizard was created with the legal system in mind from the ground up, covering all the aspects listed above. 

You will have communication that is recorded, with file storage and sharing systems, a shared calendar with swap requests to keep disputes to a minimum, and an expense log that allows you to attach receipts to prove things have been paid for. 

But OurFamilWizard’s main advantage is that lawyers, mediators, and other family law professionals can be added to the app, allowing access to everything stored in there for use in the court, if needed. The app is court-approved since 2001, which means that everything stored on the app can be presented in court if needed. Your documents will also be safe and secure within the app, with the best security keeping things private.


Author Bio – Mashum Mollah is a freelance news reporter and a passionate blogger. He shares his journey, insights, and experiences at Big Jar News. If you are a newsreader, or simply an info-holic, then this site is for you.

Julie Higgins
Author
Julie is a Staff Writer at momooze.com. She has been working in publishing houses before joining the editorial team at momooze. Julie's love and passion are topics around beauty, lifestyle, hair and nails.