Communication Improves Consistent coParenting
Parenting is a verb with starts and stops, but it’s also a team sport. When you say “no” and step out of the ring, who steps in?
When your other coParent, husband or wife, intimate partner, next-door neighbor, nanny, babysitter, or your own mom takes over, the transition should be seamless. This means communicating. Agreeing what the rules and rewards are.
When’s bedtime?
What chores are expected?
Who’s the pediatrician, just in case?
When nurses change shifts in the hospital, they leave one another updated notes on every patient for exactly the same reason. You and your coParent can do the same. Do your kids go back and forth between two homes? Do they have a regular babysitter or time at Grandma’s? Start a communication book now. Before either of you tags out of the ring, update five categories about each child:
1. Eating/sleeping/toilet visits
2. School/homework
3. Health and medications
4. Friends/social
5. Successes
It’s easy to forget that last category, but don’t. Taking the time to recognize successes is how we keep the wheel from squeaking.
About Lori Denman-Underhill
