Co-parenting tips
I was having a conversation with a mom the other day who had just separated and wanted to go for 100% custody of her two girls. My first question was, 'Is he a bad father? Is he an alcoholic, drug-user, or violent? 'No', was her answer, 'he just won't bring them up as well as I would!' What could I say? What should I say? 'Does he love them?' Her answer was, 'well yes of course ...
We've all done it. Someone asks how your day was and it all spills out in an emotional torrent of frustration, fear or indignation. You come out of your venting bubble to see the other person looking at you in shock? Whilst I felt so much better, I'm not sure about them! So let's see if your venting is good or bad. Take the quiz ...
After having conversations with parents about how to manage children between two households, you soon realise that many parents are overwhelmed with what has to be discussed and organized with their ex to ensure everybody stays sane. An Australian support service, Relationships Australia, has produced a great parenting plan document that walks you though all the areas needing resolution, and is relevant to any family in any country. Here is a quick overview ...
While there are hundreds of Facebook pages, Twitter feeds and blogs that re-enforce the woes of being a single parent, we thought it was high time to look at the positives. So every day I am going to add to this list to share 100 positive sides of being a single parent. I would love to hear your suggestions if you would like to share. Enjoy!
It's very easy to get trapped in the 'glass half empty' cycle - especially when you've been through a major life-changer like separation and lose the ability to appreciate what you have. While it can be comforting to stay put at your own pity party with gin and tonic in hand, life's too short not to be happy, so here is the Happiness Institute's advice for being happy ...
Juggling becomes a refined craft when you become a single parent, so many of you would agree that super moms and dads are definitely single. Some days it feels like you're super Mario navigating a racetrack and just trying not to collide into anything. A typical weekday in a single parent household looks like this ...
In any relationship, someone usually takes the role of organizing finances, social calendars, the grocery list and the children. So if you're faced with separation, a big struggle is getting organized if you weren't this person. Below are just a few things that usually get missed when separating:
1. Take your name off bills: If you are leaving the home, once you separate officially, you have to remove yourself from the bills, otherwise you are equally accountable if they are not paid...
We've all done it. Let our anger fly and throw a barrage of spiteful words at our partner in front of the kids. Even behind closed doors, we know they can hear everything, so why do we do it? ‘Children are like emotional Geiger counters,” says E. Mark Cummings, psychologist at Notre Dame University, who, along with colleagues, has published hundreds of papers over twenty years on the subject.
There are hundreds of items to action when you separate so we reached out to our pre-launch registered users to find out what questions they needed answers to. One was what to do with your Australian Medicare account after you separate? With no details online, we went directly to the Department of Human Services to get the correct answers.
Introducing Divvito, sounds like DeVito and Divito, but means so much more. Why was our name so important to us? That's like saying why was your baby's name so important? Firstly, our company will have it for the rest of it's life and secondly it's because we want it to mean something, to stand for what values and virtues we hold so highly …
