Divorce may take a strenuous toll on everyone involved. With children in the picture, the stakes seem even higher. Your main focus is making sure your kids have the best shot at a loving life.
When parents divorce in Florida, they create a parenting plan to help guide them through time sharing schedules with the children. This document is critical in maintaining a stable routine for everyone in the immediate aftermath of change. However, as time passes, should you revisit the parenting plan?
The needs of the children
As kids grow, their needs and wants will, too. The result is a need to modify the original parenting plan to include things like:
- Afterschool activities
- Weekend sporting events
- Social gatherings and school clubs
- Change of schools
- Relocation
You may already have these items addressed in your parenting plan. If you do not, you may want to go back and change it.
The wants of the children
After going back and forth for a bit, kids may start to vocalize what they like and dislike about it. While you, as the parent, must set the tone for expectations with sharing parenting, it is still essential that you allow them to talk about their feelings. Over time, if those feelings start to manifest into real problems, such as always running late to school from one parent’s house, then you may want to start talking about changing the schedule.
The evolution of the parenting plan
The court requires you to draft a parenting plan because it is in the best interest of the children for parents to have a schedule to follow. It is not meant to continue dictating what is best for you and your family well into the future. In fact, judges typically encourage parents to modify the plan between them as needed. This works best if you can both agree on the changes. If so, getting a modification drafted and filed is easier than you think.
Parenting between two homes may frustrate even the most dedicated person. As time moves on, you and your ex should continue working together to revise the parenting plan for the sake of your children.
