Many parents who are caught up in a custody dispute lose focus of their children’s best interest as they fight to “win” their arguments. But a disagreement isn’t about attacking the other parent to assassinate their character.
Instead, your arguments should be tailored at keeping your children’s physical, emotional, and psychological well-being safe. And as you’re building your custody arguments, you should pay attention to what you can do to protect your children throughout the process. After all, an improperly handled custody fight can cause significant damage to your children.
How can you keep your children safe during a custody dispute?
Although it can quickly feel like your custody battle is spinning out of control, there are steps you can take to rein it in to protect your children. This includes doing the following:
- Keeping your children out of the middle of it: In your attempt to bond with your children and help them see reality as you do, it can be tempting to talk poorly about the other parent in front of your kids or share intimate details about the other parent’s wrongdoings. But this robs your children of their other parent, and they may come to resent you for it. So, don’t talk negatively about the other parent when your children are around, and refrain from posting bad things about the other parent on social media. Don’t use your children as messengers, as doing so thrusts them into the dispute and forces them to take sides.
- Focusing on your children’s needs: Your children have physical, emotional, and psychological needs. It can be easy to lose sight of them when you’re embroiled in a custody dispute. So, take the time needed to step back, recognize what your children need right now, and devise a way to provide them with what they need and any support they might want.
- Encouraging them to find outlets: Whether it’s playing sports, creating art, journaling, or exploring nature, help your children find a healthy way to relieve stress and focus their energies. This provides them with an emotional outlet they can turn to time and again when things get difficult.
- Providing consistency: Many children struggle with divorce and custody issues because they feel like their world has been thrown into chaos. By providing some sense of consistency, you give your children a greater sense of control over their lives.
- Communicating clearly: Clear lines of communication encourage your children to come to you if they need to talk about the difficulties they’re facing in light of the changes in their life.
- Seeking professional help: There’s no shame in seeking mental health treatment and care for your children when it’s needed. These professionals can give your children coping skills to cope with life’s stressors, which can also assist them in de-escalating in times of contention and stress as well as maintaining stability.
Develop a legal strategy that protects your children’s best interests
Your children have a lot at stake in your custody dispute. You certainly don’t want to let them down, and you need to protect their well-being as much as possible. To figure out the best way to do that, you need to gain an understanding of the law and how you can use it to your advantage in your custody hearing.