Plan for Mediation With Your Children in Mind

Children are capable of handling more than many give them credit for, but divorce is hard on anyone—especially kids. As you and your spouse go through your divorce process, you should always keep your children in mind with the decisions you make, and aim to minimize the impact on their lives as much as possible.

Here are a few tips to help you with this in your divorce mediation process.

• Be kind: Never talk poorly about the other parent in front of your children; this forces them into a situation where they feel like they need to side with one of you, which is extremely unfair.
• Avoid divorce discussions: Do not talk about the terms of your divorce or your negotiations with your children. They should not have to worry about how the process is going.
• Be united with your spouse: As difficult as it can be, you should aim to keep a united front with your spouse in how you talk to the children. In your mediation sessions, agree from the beginning that you will both consider your children’s needs in your negotiations.
• Consider special needs: As you mediate issues regarding custody, consider any special needs your children will have, including medical needs, extracurricular activities or anything else that you should take into account in your logistical planning moving forward.
• Commit to communicate: Effective communication is going to be crucial for your ability to coparent well. Remember that your children will grow up significantly influenced by your parenting style, and they may become parents themselves someday. You can still be good parents and raise good humans even while divorced, it just takes commitment and strong communication skills.

For more information about how you can mediate with your children in mind, contact an experienced Long Island divorce lawyer at Solutions Divorce Mediation.