Page 22 - BOL Nov 22 Edition

The Snowball Effect

The golden rule in co-parenting is the dark and the children suffer. Alternatively,
more quality communication the better. they show up at your house (or the school)
when it’s not their scheduled time because
It’s very tempting to ignore or delay replying they thought there was a problem and
when you see a message from the other hadn’t heard from anyone.
parent. Let’s face it, most people would
prefer not talking to an ex if they had the The key to stopping this snowballing effect
choice. However, this is where the problems is to defeat it at the beginning by both
often start because they probably don’t parents abiding by fundamental rules of
want to talk to you either so there’s a good communication.
chance that it’s about the kids and it could
be important. Be polite and start with a greeting. Don’t ever a reasonable timeframe for when you’ll
insult the other parent or imply that they’re respond. If you need some help, try using a
In the mind of an anxious parent, it can not doing as good a job. Keep the messages parenting communication app but always
be a series of rapid and very small steps to the point and factual so the other parent call if something is an emergency.
from not hearing from the other parent to can respond in the same manner. Always
assuming that there’s something wrong get the other parent’s side of the story There are plenty more but these will stop
and the irrational behaviours can break out on any incident first rather than jumping a lot of molehills from being made into
from there very quickly. After this, the future to conclusions. Assume that everything mountains which makes for a far smoother
destination is almost always one parent not you write will be brought up at some co-parenting experience and, if nothing
bothering to provide important information point in the future to someone important. else, it’s always beneficial for kids when they
anymore because “they never respond Acknowledge receipt of communication can see both parents on the same page and
anyway” and suddenly the other is left in the and, if you can’t reply straight away, provide getting along.

Joshua Noble is a Senior Family Law Solicitor at Zande Law Solicitors, Suite 7, Norwinn Centre, 15
Discovery Drive, North Lakes. Contact Joshua for advice phone 3385 0999.

The information in this article is merely a guide and is not a full explanation of the law. This firm
cannot take responsibility for any action readers take based on this information. When making
decisions that could affect your legal rights, please contact us for professional advice.

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