Being in Control
Being in control means controlling your own destiny, not controlling someone else.
Being in control means that you have the ability to plan for the future.
- Controlling your own future requires learning how to work with a former partner with whom you no longer share a life.
- Everyone has to work with other people and sometimes compromise. Even though you no longer live with the other parent, the two of you still must work together to raise your children.
- As a parent, you are in the best position to evaluate your child’s needs.
- You have the ability to determine how those needs will be met.
- If you can agree, you and the other parent have the right to determine your parenting time schedule.
- It is only when you cannot agree that you have to involve the court or the friend of the court.
- When the court must decide, you give up your right to make those decisions.
Being in control may include seeking assistance outside the court system, such as counseling, if that will help you work with the other parent.
- Try alternative ways of working out your disagreements, such as mediation.
- Recognize those aspects of your relationship over which you do not have control. Those might include domestic violence, drug abuse, and alcoholism.
- When the other parent does not follow the court order, the friend of the court will help enforce or modify the order.
|
|
