Not every divorce can end with parents who act friendly with each other. Elizabethtown parents who want to do what is best for the children but do not think they can co-parent may wonder what to do. They do not want the children in the middle, but they also want to spend as much time with them as possible. An alternative may solve this problem.
Parallel parenting could rescue Elizabethtown parents who find themselves in a high-conflict divorce who want to make sure their issues impact the children as little as possible. The hallmark of this parenting method is that the parents communicate and interact only through a prearranged method of communication that does not involve personal contact. Multiple forms of technology are available to help them accomplish this, such as email, smartphone apps and more. The parties simply need to agree on what platform they prefer to use.
Divorced couples using parallel parenting remove the children from exposure to their contentious relationship. In addition, since the parents agree not to put the children in the middle or speak ill of the other in front of the children, the time spent with each parent can focus on them and their relationships. As long as one parent is not putting the children in danger, the other cannot say anything about how they spend their time. However, the parents may want to include some general house rules in their agreement in order to keep some consistency between households for the sake of the children.
Parallel parenting can provide a situation that works best for the children and the parents when the divorce involves a significant amount of animosity, anger, resentment and discord between the parents. If they can put their interpersonal conflicts aside long enough to create their agreement, it would allow them to retain more control over the final product. However, if that just is not possible, the court can step in to help.