» Parenting

Children Who Refuse to Visit – Part II of II

If your child is resisting spending time with you, it may be due to your own lack of insight into why. Perhaps you have a problem with anger management and your child has experienced how your spouse feels after a blow-up or worse, has seen the blow-u… Read More
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Children Who Refuse to Visit – Part I of II

Your divorce is finally over, a parenting time schedule is in place, and now you are looking forward to building your relationship with your child in an environment that does not include your former spouse. Parenting time is going along fine: your ex… Read More
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Do Your Kids Resist Spending Parenting Time with You? Give Them Permission to Love the Other Parent

Recently, a new client complained that her 15 year old son does not want to spend time with his father. The son complains that Dad maligns Mom when they are together. Yesterday, the client forwarded an email exchange between their son and his dad whi… Read More
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Being Successful Co-Parents After Divorce

There is no one magic formula for successful co-parenting after divorce. There are guidelines that help parents. 1. Show respect for the other parent. You once loved this person enough to make at least once child together. No, the other parent is not… Read More
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Are You Good Candidates for Parallel Parenting?

There are three style of parenting after divorce. 1) Cooperative, 2) Conflicted or 3) Disengaged and Parallel parenting. Cooperative parenting is the style used by parents who have low conflict and who can communicate effectively about their child. Y… Read More
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Tips for Parenting With a Jerk

Let’s assume you have tried the suggestions contained in the earlier article about co-parenting with a jerk. Despite your best efforts, the jerk has not responded effectively. Here are some techniques that will benefit your children: Don’… Read More
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Parenting With a Jerk

Courts in Michigan prefer awarding joint legal custody of minor children. In fact, the statute requires the court to make a finding of why joint legal custody should not be granted, if either parent requests it. This is based on the research that sho… Read More
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When Your Spouse Becomes an Impaired Parent

In most cases, parents can co-parent effectively. If one parent is chemically dependent or suffers from a mental illness, much more work will fall to the the healthy parent. If the impaired parent does not address the problem, the children may be pla… Read More
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Judge: “I don’t love your children.”

Judges give the following admonition to people who litigate, in different forms. One particularly forthright judge stated it this way. “I don’t love your children. I have only met them once for a very short time. You know them and their needs bet… Read More
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Moving with the Children to Other States

In our mobile society, we often encounter clients who have moved to Michigan from other states. When their marriage is threatened, they prefer to have the support of their extended families and want to move back home. When the couple has children, th… Read More
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