Your child is your priority. He or she is also your ex’s priority. Now, you and your ex have to work together to figure out a plan for how your child can build a meaningful relationship with both parents since you will no longer be living in the same home. This is an aspect of divorce that many parents find difficult to handle.
We understand that you might want to just take care of your child on your own and forget that your ex ever existed. Unfortunately, this isn’t likely to happen so you should mentally prepare for having to work with your ex for as long as your children are minors.
As you work on coming to an agreement about child custody matters, you will have to think about what your child needs. You can’t spend your time focusing on what will make your ex’s life more difficult or what will make your life a lot easier. Instead, your child’s happiness and ability to thrive must be the focal points.
When you and your ex are going through mediation, you need to make sure that your rights as a parent are respected. Decisions about where the child will live, when the child will spend time with each parent and who will make decisions for the child are going to come up. Think carefully about each point before you agree to anything.
Your child custody agreement might be able to be modified in the future, but remember that you will have to live with the agreement as it stands until there is a reason to modify it later.