Your children are back in school. You must now start picking them up from sports or academic team practices and driving them to competitions. Your schedule becomes more and more hectic as they get involved in extracurricular activities. But dealing with your children’s schedule can be even more stressful if you recently divorced.
When you have children with your former spouse, you may have to work with each other to take care of your children. While this can be difficult, working together helps make sure you can take care of your children’s needs. Here are a few tips for working with your former spouse to take care of your children’s school needs:
- Share your children’s schedules – Use a shared calendar to upload your children’s schedules. This lets each of you know where your children will be and who is responsible for picking them up. Many new mobile applications exist that can help with this.
- Agree on your children’s needs – Your children will have multiple choices and needs in school that require you and your spouse to agree. One of your children may struggle and need tutoring. Or another child may need permission to join a school play or after-school group. Discuss these needs with your former spouse before they come up so you can come to an agreement.
- Address extra expenses in your parenting agreement – Schools often ask for extra expenses for trips or extracurricular activities. Your child may need to bring a snack for the class or need a musical instrument for a music class. Make sure your parenting agreement discusses these expenses.
You and your former spouse will share the responsibility of raising your children. Working together and coming to compromises and agreements makes sure your children don’t suffer.
