It can be hard to implement an effective co-parenting strategy. There might be a lot of negative animosity between you and your child’s other parent, and each of you might think that you know what’s best for your child. Those visions of what’s in your child’s best interests, of course, don’t always line up, either. These issues can foster conflict and heated exchanges that perpetuate the challenges that you’re already seeing.
And while it can be easy to get wrapped up in the emotions of a bad co-parenting relationship, you really need to take care to ensure that you’re portraying yourself in the best light possible. After all, the role that you play in a poor co-parenting relationship may come back to bite you in your child custody case.
The signs of bad co-parenting
There are a lot of behaviors that may be indicative of problematic co-parenting. Therefore, you should fully assess your circumstances to determine if you’ve done any of the following in your co-parenting relationship:
- Used profanity excessively
- Insulted the other parent, especially when in front of the child
- Used derogatory names to identify the other parent
- Unjustifiably criticized the other parent
- Talked negatively about the other parent to your child
- Interfered with the other parent’s visitation and overall contact with the child
- Threatened to call law enforcement or child services as a way to coerce the other parent to bend to your wishes
- Made decisions regarding your child on your own without the other parent’s input
- Failed to keep the other parent informed of what’s going on with your child, such as medical appointments and extracurricular activities
- Made invasive recordings or taken pictures of your child to use as evidence of the other parent’s improper care of your child
Sometimes we’re so involved in the situation before us that it’s hard to see what’s really going on. That’s often the case in child custody, visitation, and co-parenting disputes. That’s why if you’ve engaged in any of the actions identified above, you might want to talk to a legal professional who can give you some insight into how problematic the issues are.
How these issues may impact your child custody case
Facilitating a poor co-parenting relationship can cause you a lot of trouble in your child custody case. The other parent may use evidence of inappropriate behavior against you to try to modify physical custody away from you or reduce, restrict, or even eliminate you’re the time spent with your child.
Your words may be taken out of context, and your behaviors may be exaggerated to try to paint you in the worst light possible. That’s why it’s best that you try to remain respectful and professional in your interactions with your child’s other parent. If disputes arise, you might want to write down how the matter arose and what happened so that you can be crystal clear about it if it’s brought up in court at a later date.
Protect your relationship with your child and their best interests
There’s a lot on the line when a child custody dispute turns heated. That’s why it’s imperative that you’re careful with what you say and what you do. Regardless of what’s been done, though, you might have strong legal arguments on your side to protect your child’s best interests and your time with them. If you’d like to learn more about what those arguments would look like in your particular case, you might want to reach out to an attorney of your choosing to discuss the matter further.