When a custody agreement is created, its main goal is to provide the children with the best possible situation. Custody is never an easy topic for parents to discuss with each other, let alone their children. When a shared custody agreement is put into place, you need to explain it to your children. There’s nothing to hide. Make sure they know the agreement and how everyone is going to work together.
The first way to explain shared custody to your children is to explain the change in their life. If their living arrangements are changing, make sure you provide a clear explanation of what is happening and why. This needs to be a calm, loving conversation between you, the other parent and all of the children.
Talk about the constants that will remain in their life. If there are little changes to how they will go about their day, make sure you point this out to them. Let them know they are not changing schools or moving to another state.
Remain as positive as possible when having this conversation with your children. Even if your children become visibly upset, you need to stay positive. Let them know that they will still be loved by both parents and will have two loving homes to share now.
Answer their questions. Do not dismiss any question they ask. If you don’t have an answer now, take the time to find the answer and circle back to their question at a later date.
As you can see, it is important to explain this arrangement to your children, so they are on the same page as you and the other parent. When everyone is on the same page and works together, shared custody can be a successful arrangement for all types of families.
