Parenting as a Team
*Collaborative Post
Most couples that have children will have experienced a situation where one of you thinks that you should discipline or raise your child in a particular way, and your spouse wants to handle things in a different way. You are both adamant in doing things how you want to do them, and can both become entrenched in how you do things; that can be when the fighting can start.
You are all different people and are likely to have different experiences and ways of wanting to do things. So there will be some disagreements that are going to almost be expected when two people from different backgrounds and experiences come together and make a family of their own. The thing is, children can sense when parents aren’t in it together and sense when things are is a lack of unity, so it is important to deal with things before they get worse, otherwise, it may lead to looking for expert divorce solicitors. Children need stability, so being able to present a united front, when it comes to parenting, is so important. So here are some guidelines to help you to avoid unnecessary battles when it comes to parenting and raising children and why parenting as a team is essential.
Give Back-Up
One of the things that you can do can be to make a rule that if one of you disciplines the children, that the other one of you will back them up. Even if you don’t necessarily agree, talk about that later away from the children. When you do this, it shows your children that you are united and are parenting as a team: it will also help them to see that they can’t play you off of one another. Of course, this is just with normal parenting decisions if there is anything happening that is bad from a safeguarding point of view, then you should step in.
Make Parenting Decisions Camly
When it comes to making decisions and deciding how to do things, then it needs to be done when you are calm and can listen to each other. In fact, when you’re calm, you are likely to understand each others point of view. So avoid making big decisions or having big talks about things when you are both feeling angry or upset.
Understand Their Family Background
When you get to know how your spouse was raised and their family experience growing up, it can help you to see why they do certain things in the ways that they do them. If they had a distant parent that worked a lot, it might make it more obvious why they themselves aren’t very hands-on, for instance. So talk about how you were both raised, and it can help to make a difference when you understand where each of you are coming from.
The key things for parenting as a team are listening, being calm, and presenting a united front to your children. It may mean that you have to compromise, but it will make a difference.
*This is a collaborative post. For further information please refer to my disclosure page.