You and your spouse are getting a divorce, but you have both agreed that you want to have a good relationship for the sake of your children. Neither of you did anything particularly wrong to cause divorce, but you grew apart and simply weren’t happy any longer.
As a result, you want to build a strong coparenting relationship. To you, this means that you can still share holidays and events together. Perhaps you can even travel together as a family, but you and your spouse won’t have to be in a marital relationship any longer. Of course, this kind of relationship takes work, especially when you’re ending a marriage.
How can you build a strong co-parenting relationship?
In your case, it sounds like you want to be friends as well as to share a strong coparenting relationship. That means that both parents are going to need to be dedicated to their children’s care and to focus on what is best for them, even when they may have other personal feelings. This also means that both parents are going to need to be cautious about introducing new partners and friends, so that the balance is not disrupted.
There are people who have been able to have successful friendships and coparenting relationships after divorce. Much of the success of your relationship will depend on the way your divorce is handled, so do your best to be respectful. If both of you are committed to making this work, then you will do your best to make sure each home can support your children well and that you’re both in a position to share in the responsibilities of raising your children.
Should you try nesting?
Another interesting coparenting technique is to nest. Nesting is when you keep the marital home and allow your child to remain there. Then, you switch in and out of the home or share the home. Some parents split the home into apartments, for example, while others have their own apartments in which they live on days when they don’t have custody. This can be a good arrangement if you’re both respectful of each other and the space, so it’s something you’ll want to talk about to determine if it could work for you.
There are many ways to coparent successfully. Finding the method that works for you may take time, but it will be worth the effort.