As a parent going through a divorce, you likely spend plenty of time worrying about ways in which you can parent your child without getting into issues and arguments with your co-parent. Especially in the heat of a divorce, this may seem like a distant dream.
Fortunately, parallel parenting is a potential option that may suit your needs. Here are three primary ways in which parallel parenting could benefit you.
Limit your interactions
Psychology Today discusses parallel parenting, a method of co-parenting that provides unique benefits. First, parallel parenting prevents you and your co-parent from having to interact with each other face-to-face. Instead, you do all of your communication through text or writing. This allows you both to step back and calm down if you feel an argument brewing. You may even avoid conversations entirely, such as keeping data logs in a notebook instead of speaking to one another directly.
Second, it lets you continue providing your child with the benefits of a two-parent household. Though you and your co-parent do not interact directly, you still both enjoy involvement in your child’s life and can provide emotional and financial support to them. You can still reap some of the benefits of shared parenting this way.
Pave the way to success
Third, it sets you up for more successful cooperative parenting later on. Though it may seem inconceivable now, the ultimate goal of parallel parenting is to allow both parents the time and space they need to heal. From there, you work your way up to more openly communicative forms of parenting. Starting off with a solid base instead of rushing forward can help you succeed when the time comes to leave parallel parenting behind.
